#& also i find complaining about having to wash your battle jacket after a show in denver very funny Bro Its Denver.

[deermouth]

I keep having the Poster's Urge about the stupid discourse du jour—weed smoking at the venue—and then reminding myself that absolutely no one who'd compose a response to me would do so in good faith.

[thegoodgayshit]

Luz’s mother really doesn’t want to send Luz to camp. She knows once she leaves, there is no going back. But Luz has a knack for getting into trouble, and one day she stumbles into the same type of people her mother would have preferred she avoided. After helping Luz dissolve her high school bully into dust, Eda and Lilith know right away that this kid is just like them - a child of the gods. So Luz hops on a Pegasus and heads to Camp Half-blood, where she embarks on a dangerous quest that makes her both friends and enemies... and she might even save Olympus along the way.

Chapter Thirty-Six: I Have the Best Summer Ever

The rest of Luz’s summer was a total blur of the best kind of amazing, fantastic, demigod-ness a kid could even imagine.

Luz’s days were filled with training in the arena, playing capture the flag, and hanging out with her friends. Every morning that she woke up and put on one of her orange t-shirts was another reminder that as of right now, she really had it good.

Sometimes in the mornings she and Eda would head out into the arena and spar while King took his usual sunbathing position a few feet away. Eda would parry and block her strikes, give her dirty tricks to use in upcoming games or events, and sometimes Luz would even get lucky enough to disarm her or pull something new she wasn’t expecting.

“I swear kid, one of these days you’re going to be even better than me,” she’d say, reaching down to ruffle her hair and switch her weapon and get ready for another round.

More than once, she and her siblings in the Hermes cabin had banded together to play some light-hearted pranks on the other cabins. Viney and Jerbo were a mischievous force to be reckoned with, and while Luz liked to participate she never really got lucky in the “getting away” part. More than once, Lilith had caught her in the act while she was placing a prank and turned a blind eye, and Luz always felt a rush of affection for the daughter of Zeus. It was asking a lot for her to not snitch, especially since she was a stickler for rules.

Luz made it up to her once or twice by pranking Eda on her behalf with a little bit of help from Edric and Emira. When her mentor showed up to the dining pavilion once with her hair sticking straight up in the air thanks to some magic hair gel, the laugh that came out of Lilith’s mouth made it all worth it.

At nights, Luz and Amity would sneak out of their cabins and hide from the harpies, sitting with their sketchbooks in the strawberry fields. They would laugh, and talk, and kiss, and enjoy each other’s company until one of them inevitably almost fell asleep and they decided to head back.

The wall of Luz’s bunk was soon tacked to the max with drawings, some of them of her quest, and some of them with fond memories of camp. She always did her best to text one to her Mami once in a while, and let her know how she was doing.

Luz made sure her cabin would try and team up with Gus and Willow’s whenever they could. The three of them were officially a force to be reckoned with during capture the flag. Their combinations and chemistry in battle often resulted in very easy and very early wins, and some of the other cabins were quick to point out they had an “unfair quest experience advantage”. While Eda had just shrugged, Willow did her best to make sure the teams would sometimes even out a little better after that.

Gods kept visiting camp here and there, usually to come by and say hello to their kids. Aphrodite had the habit of showing up unannounced and snapping her fingers, giving everybody an unrealistically fashionable outfit and hairdo, while the clothes they’d been wearing got snapped back to their bunks freshly washed and laundered. While some of the campers hated it, Luz didn’t mind. Aphrodite certainly had her style down to perfection, and pocketing another free outfit was always nice. Amity had other opinions on the matter.

“I just don’t get why she has to do this!” She complained, adjusting the pink t-shirt Aphrodite had magically slapped onto her. “It’s so weird!”

“I think that really suits you,” Luz shrugged while pointing to the leather jacket slung over Amity’s arm. “And your shirt says Hexside! How cool is that!”

Amity rolled her eyes as Luz did a spin, showing off her new green jacket and beanie to Gus and Willow. “She gave me new shoes too! My old ones are torn to bits from the quest.”

“You have to admit Amity, it’s nice getting free stuff,” Willow said while examining her own yellow jacket. “And she’s not the goddess of beauty for nothing. These are nice clothes.”

“My clothes look exactly like the ones I already own!” Gus complained, looking down at his simple navy button-up and jeans.

“If it isn’t broken don’t fix it!” Luz teased with a smile, patting him on the back. Amity groaned in embarrassment, slapping her hands to her face.

When Hermes showed up the first few times to visit the camp, Luz said hello to him, but also made sure that her other siblings got to spend some one-on-one time with their dad. As he was leaving the third time he visited, he pulled Luz aside for a quick chat.

“I just want to let you know that the gods have talked about adding an additional reward for you and your friends after what you’ve done for Olympus,” he said quietly, and Luz’s jaw dropped.

“I… I don’t need another reward dad. The way you guys have been showing up at camp is more than enough.”

Hermes tilted his head, smiling softly. “Perhaps you don’t need one, but the gods want to give it to you anyway. You have no idea the gravity of the situation that Belos had created upon Olympus. He almost destroyed us all.”

He looked around to make sure nobody was listening, and then leaned in to whisper.

“As the god of messengers, I was responsible for delivering a package to your mother and the rest of your companion's parents. You should hear from them shortly.”

Luz gaped. “What? What do you mean…”

Hermes reached over and gripped her shoulders. “I am proud of you, Luz. And trust me when I say I will make good on my promise and be there more for you and your siblings.” He winced rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “And… don’t be the first one to use the shower this evening. Your siblings and I might have set up a bit of a cruel prank.”

With a flash of wind, leaving behind a thoroughly confused Luz, Hermes was gone.

Luz didn’t have to wait long to find out what exactly the gods had done, because her Mami was calling her on her cellphone almost immediately after.

“Luz! You’ll never guess what showed up in the mail today! You’ve been accepted for a full ride to a boarding school downtown…”

And she wasn’t the only one.

“I can’t believe this!” Gus had exclaimed while the four of them were sitting on the beach just after dinner. “We’re all going to the same school next year!”

“It really does seem too good to be true,” Willow grinned, handing Luz one of the illicit cans of Sprite that Viney had managed to sneak from out of camp in celebration. “My dads are sad that I won’t be staying at home in Wisconsin, but they had to admit it is a great opportunity.”

“I’m just excited to go to a school where I finally have real friends.” Luz had never been so happy to think about the start of a new school year before. “We’ll get to go see Olympus on the weekends! Working alongside the actual gods!” Luz turned to Amity, who was watching Luz with her own soft smile. “Are your parents… okay with this? After everything that happened…”

“Oh trust me, they’re more than pleased. They see this whole internship program to create a bridge between the gods and their mortal kids as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity'. They’re even talking about paying for Edric and Emira to go with me and hope that my ‘success’ rubs off on them. They don’t love that you guys are also a part of it though…” Amity’s expression darkened for a moment, and Luz reached across the beach to squeeze her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Luz started, but Amity just shrugged her shoulders.

“Don’t apologize, this is a good thing. I’m going to get to stay here in New York full time.”

“We all get too!” Gus grinned, digging his hands in the sand like he was holding back a squeal. “Luz you’ve got to show us all your favorite moral spots in the city.”

Luz’s smile had stretched wide, already imaging the kinds of shenanigans she and her friends would get up to running loose in Manhattan. “Obviously! The city’s huge; we could do something new every night!”

“You’ll never be able to get away from us now,” Willow teased, passing Amity an amused look as she sipped from her Sprite. Amity tilted her head back and laughed.

“Oh gods, I better stock up on Advil. Between you three and the twins I’m going to have a constant headache…”

As it started to fade to late August, Luz’s days just kept getting better. Thanks to Eda and her training paired with the other camp activities, she was faster than she’d ever been, she could scale up the rock wall in record times, and her sword skills had gotten incredibly good.

So good, that when the annual sparring tournament came up in the arena towards the end of the summer, she’d been able to knock Boscha into the dirt with the pommel of Aletheia, leaving the red-faced daughter of Ares extremely bitter and her final opponent being none other than her girlfriend.

“No chance you’re going to go easy on me?” Luz asked at the campfire that night, really only half-joking.

“Nope,” Amity replied with a little smirk. “I’ve won this tournament two years in a row. I’m about to make it three.”

To say the camp was buzzing with excitement would be an understatement. The whole camp had watched as Luz the newbie quest hero and Amity Blight had grown obviously closer, and in the three days leading up to the final tournament match, the discussion of which girlfriend would be the winner was as common as asking what the harpies would serve for dessert that night.

“Come on, kid, this is what we trained for!” Eda said, smacking her shoulders encouragingly the night before the match. “I don’t care if she’s you’re little girlfriend, she won’t be going easy on you so you shouldn’t either!”

“Knock her into the dirt!” King screeched from his napping spot on the ground.

While they were only trying to help, it wasn’t the most reassuring advice she’d ever received.

Luz tried to turn a blind eye to the gossip leading up to the fight, but it was hard to ignore Emira and Willow exchange a bet right in front of her at breakfast right before the right.

“Seriously?” Luz scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Sorry Luz, but Mittens has years of training under her belt, and I’m out of allowance,” Emira shrugged while she shook Willow’s hand.

“You don’t see the way Amity acts around her,” Willow retorted. “If she’s like that today, Luz has a good chance.”

Emira hummed, “Shoot. I didn’t think of that.”

“Oh my gods,” Luz groaned, slapping both hands to her face, sinking into the bench of the table, mortified.

Once Luz had been fitted into a set of finally well-fitting bronze armor, she drew Aletheia and met Amity in the center of the field, where Eda and Lilith were standing to referee the match. As she approached, she watched Amity coming from the other side, armor almost identical to Luz’s strapped over an orange camp shirt, the crowd of campers cheering in excitement. As her gaze flitted up to Amity’s eyes, there was a glint that reminded Luz that Amity was not the person she wanted to be on the bad side of.

It was too easy to forget weeks after their quest that Amity was a demigod force to be reckoned with and not the kind of enemy you wanted to have.

As the crowd quieted to an anticipated hum, Lilith raised her hand. Her mouth was cocked in an uncharacteristically juvenile smirk. It made Luz wonder if the campers hadn’t been the only folks at camp to place bets. When Eda shot Luz a cartoonish smile with two thumbs up, before patting her pocket knowingly, it confirmed her suspicions.

Gods. Now she really couldn’t lose. Eda would never forgive her.

“Amity! Luz! Are you ready?”

With a single touch to her own wrist, Dike sprung into its full form, lifted just high enough to cover the grin that was spreading across Amity’s face. She swung her sword experimentally in her hand, the little flecks of a glinting in the sun. “Yep.”

Luz took a deep breath and raised her own blade nodding once. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“No holding back, right?” Even though Amity had phrased it as a question, Luz knew better. It was a challenge. The nerves in her stomach faded, and a laugh escaped her lips.

“Since when have I ever held back? ”

She smirked, “good point.”

“Alright your adorable banter is literally making me sick,” Eda scoffed, “let’s just do this already.”

Lilith rolled her eyes, dropping her hand. “Begin!”

Without wasting another beat, Amity charged and swung, and Luz lifted Aletheia to deflect it. A loud metallic clang echoed around the arena, and the watching campers erupted into cheers.

It was Luz’s toughest match yet.

The two of them traded blow for blow, each pushing the other to their limit. Amity was, inarguably, better trained, with mastered precision and skill that left Luz reeling with each strike. But Luz was more creative. She was able to flick her sword at the right angle to push her off balance and shove, she was able to dodge and weave without the extra weight of a shield, and she was crazy enough to take steps closer to her and press into her personal space, forcing her to recalculate moves.

As the fight went on for some time, the cheering got louder, their arms got heavier as they began to slow down, and the fighting got dirtier.

Luz did it first, though it was kind of an accident. Amity went to swing when she’d knocked Luz off balance, and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stop it before it cut into her armor. Amity would have taken it out on herself later if she’d seriously hurt Luz, so it came out as more of an instinctual shout.

“Too low!”

She closed her eyes bracing for impact, but it never came. With a woosh, the sword went right over her head. She opened her eyes and saw Amity’s misty eyes clearing, before changing to a completely indignant look.

“Did you just use your Hermes bartering on me?”

She smiled sheepishly and swung Aletheia towards her, and Amity barely had time to raise her shield to deflect it.

She could hear the snorts and chuckles from both Eda and the crowd, but Luz barely had time to be proud of herself. Within the next two swings back and forth, Amity got her revenge.

Luz swung upwards, flicking the blade and finally getting a decent move that knocked her off balance. But as Luz went to disarm her, Amity’s eyes flashed and a curled smile crept up her face right as Luz brought her weapon forward.

“Don’t!”

And for a moment, all Luz could feel was the thrum of her heartbeat in her head as her vision went blurry. There was an overwhelming urge to get rid of Aletheia, back away, stop herself from getting any closer to Amity. All she could think about was how she couldn’t hurt her, wouldn’t even try. When her vision cleared, she had backed up five feet, and her sword slipped from her hand and clattered in the dirt.

She blinked, trying to figure out what had just happened before it dawned on her that she’d seen Amity do this once before. Aphrodite’s passion.

Luz looked down at the sword, then up at Amity, scowling. “Really?”

Despite the smirk on her face, Amity’s eyes were sparkling with humor and affection. “You started it.”

Luz barely had time to leap out of the way from another swing, doing her best to make a grab for the sword, but Amity wasn’t coming to play. She stepped right over it, and for a couple of moments, all Luz had was her speed. She ducked and dodged and weaved between swings, doing nothing but buying herself a tiny bit of time.

It wasn’t enough. Luz tried to make one last grab for the sword and Amity reached out with her hand, grabbing Luz by the arm and honest-to-gods judo flipping Luz over her shoulder. With a comically loud “oomph!” Luz was thrown onto her back, looking up at Amity as she grinned, her sword lifted in a faux-threatening position just below her chin.

“Alright,” Luz groaned, slapping her hand against the dirt. “Mercy.”

As Luz heard Eda groaning behind her and Lilith’s positively gleeful “and the winner is Amity Blight!” Amity sheathed her sword, reaching down with one hand and pulling Luz up to her feet.

And yeah, it was a tiny bit embarrassing to lose to Amity. But as her girlfriend lifted her fist to the roaring crowd of campers and grinned, her own hand wrapped tightly around Luz’s, she couldn’t find it in her to care.

The following night was Luz’s last night at camp before her first summer as a camper was over. She sat at the dining hall for hours with her siblings, joking, laughing, promising to stay in touch over the school year. Viney ruffled her hair and passed her an emergency pouch of Hermes tricks, while Jerbo reminded her not to be too close to this one when it exploded.

Edric and Emira snuck up on Luz at the table and informed them their parents did in fact enroll them in the same boarding school come the fall, and while Luz loved Amity’s twin siblings, the devious grin on her face did make her a bit nervous.

Right after dinner, Luz made a point to go find Eda and King, who were in their usual spot at the arena.

“Kid!” Eda said as she approached. “That was some great swordplay today.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t win, I know Lilith is probably giving you a hard time…” Luz said immediately, but Eda just held up a hand.

“Gross, sympathy. You’ve accomplished more than most first-timers this summer, and you’ve… made me proud.” There was a crooked smile on her face as Luz looked up at her, and she realized that Eda really was going to miss training with her. “Don’t be slacking while you’re gone. Keep your skills sharp. Stay out of the bad trouble, but in the good trouble. Don’t die. Oh, and if you’re getting chased by another empousai and need a quick getaway, there’s a great alley on sixty-second street-”

Luz rushed in, pulling Eda into a tight hug. While Eda huffed out a little groan at Luz’s overwhelming need to be touchy, Luz felt a rush of affection as the daughter of Zeus leaned into it anyway.

“Thanks, Eda,” Luz muttered into her shoulder.

A hand came up to pat into her hair. “No problem, kid. If Lili and I are ever heading to Mount Olympus, I’ll make sure we stop by that fancy new school of yours and say hello.”

“You better.”

"Can I come too?" King called out from at their feet, and Luz bent down to pick up the tiny hellhound scratching behind his ears.

"Yeah, can he?" Luz pleaded, and Eda rolled her eyes.

"Gods, you two are just the cutest things ever. Fine, whatever, the next time I go to Olympus I'll let him tag along."

After a chorus of excited cheering from Luz and King, it was time for the last campfire of the year. Luz finally got the true Camp Half-Blood experience. As Eda was leading the campers in a final last hurrah of songs and games, she walked over to Luz and reached out, handing her a leather necklace.

“As you all know, per tradition, every year we give our campers a bead to celebrate another year at camp. This year, the Hermes cabin designed the beads, and there is someone very special they wanted to honor.”

Luz blinked at it, taking it gingerly, and as she did Viney stood up, the twisted smile on her face visible through the crackling orange, magical, campfire.

“Luz, not only are you our newest sibling, but you helped lead a quest that not only saved Camp Half-Blood but all of Olympus. So with permission from the councilors from all the cabins, we dedicate this year’s bead to you and your quest!”

There was a whooping of applause as the beads were passed out, and when Luz took a look at it her heart clenched, affection and gratitude washing over her in a whirl.

It was a beautiful deep purple bead with a very familiar-looking sword and shield, and as she turned it in the light of the campfire, the glint of the light made it glow a beautiful magical bronze.

“So, did we nail it?” Viney asked as Luz was left speechless. Willow and Gus were grinning over at her with knowing smiles. Next to her, Amity squeezed her hand, looking just as emotional as Luz felt.

Luz leaned over and threw herself into the embrace of her half-sister, and the campfire erupted into more whoops and cheers. And yeah, Luz might have teared up a bit as she sat back down next to her friends, but if anybody noticed they didn’t comment on it.

That morning as she packed up what few belongings she actually had, electing to leave a majority of the items she’d bought for next summer, she was digging through her backpack when her fingers touched something soft. She pulled out a stiff, slick, feather, and immediately broke into a smile. Carefully sliding it across the leather to dangle right next to her bead, she clipped the necklace on and slung her backpack over her shoulder. Saying one final goodbye to the Hermes cabin, she walked out the door to go meet Willow and Gus in the strawberry fields.

When she got there, she couldn’t help but grin. Around the growing collection of beads on their necklaces, five and four respectively, a single matching feather was dangling from the middle. While none of them said anything about it at first, Luz watched as both Willow and Gus glanced down, their eyes softening with affection.

“Well?” Willow asked as she reached them, gesturing towards the now distant Camp Half-Blood. “Give us the verdict. What did you think of your first year at camp?”

“I…” Luz didn’t even know what to say. Sure, there had been the lows. The hungry belly as she traveled across the Midwest, the sword slashes, the monsters, the horrible villain who’d threatened to destroy the world. But right now as Luz looked between her friends and her new home, she felt nothing but love for her new life. The mischievous half-siblings, the rivals between the cabins, the eccentric camp directing duo that was the daughters of Zeus, Gus, Willow, Amity…

Luz couldn’t ever recall a time in her entire life that she’d felt so full.

“All I can think right now is that I don’t want it to end,” Luz finally said, and Willow and Gus stepped forward to pull her into a group hug.

“It won’t end, at least, not really,” Gus promised, his voice muffled as he was shoved into Luz’s bicep.

“Yeah, it’s just a short break,” Willow nodded, leaning her head against Luz’s shoulder and wrapping her other arm around Gus. “And in two weeks, we’ll all be together again on a new adventure.”

Luz laughed, “yeah, because the life of a half-blood is never really quiet, is it?”

“Well, that’s half the fun of it,” Amity said from behind her, and when Luz turned her head she saw her girlfriend walking through the field to join them. Her own backpack was swung over her shoulder, and she had a genuine, at peace, smile on her face.

“Spoken like a true Blight,” Willow chuckled from next to Luz, and Amity laughed.

“Well, maybe I’ll get lucky and this year away from my parents will shake some of that out of me.”

“You’re sure you’re mom and dad are okay with you staying at my Mami’s for two weeks?” Luz asked for what felt like the sixth time that week, and Amity shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m back to being their number one, despite all the… drama, that happened the last time we saw them. Edric and Emira will pack my things for school for me. Honestly… it’s kind of nice not going back to Colorado.”

After getting a first-hand glimpse into how uptight and uncomfortable the Blight Manor was, Luz couldn’t help but agree.

“Don’t have too much fun you two,” Willow teased, and Amity flushed over the sound of Gus’ laugher while Luz bumped her with her shoulder.

Whatever retort Luz would have come up with died in her throat as she looked down towards the pine tree. There, a few parents were already waiting at the border, with some campers joining them and saying hello. Among the waiting ones, Luz saw a man almost identical to Gus, and two other men standing together with their hands interlinked.

“We better not keep them waiting,” Gus said slowly, but he looked back up at Luz with a frown. Willow was standing there as well, and for just another moment Luz felt that same rush of love.

“No, you shouldn’t. Amity and I will meet you at grand central in two weeks, okay?”

“Two weeks,” Willow affirmed, and Luz pulled the four of them into one last group hug before Willow and Gus grabbed their things and went to go join their parents at the pine tree.

It wasn’t a real goodbye, nowhere near it. But Luz couldn’t help but feel her throat close up at the sight of them reuniting with their parents. Gus’ dad scooped him up into the biggest hug, and one of Willow’s dads immediately took her backpack while the other one kissed her cheek.

She felt Amity’s warm hand close around hers, and when she looked back, the daughter of Aphrodite was smiling softly.

“It’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” Luz said, and she meant it. She squeezed her own hand around Amity’s, taking a moment to really let the gratitude she had for this camp, for these people, sink in.

It wasn’t long until she saw another familiar person join the other parents near the pine tree. Luz perked up immediately at the sight of her Mami, still dressed in her scrubs. She’d probably gotten off of a shift at the hospital and rushed all the way down to Long Island just to meet her and was looking around anxiously at the other gathering parents and campers.

“Is that her?” Amity sounded nervous, and when she looked over, she was reaching up with her other hand to self-consciously adjust her mint green hair.

“She’s going to love you,” Luz promised, giving her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. “She’s been talking about how excited she’s been to meet you for like, three weeks.”

“That… somehow makes me even more nervous,” Amity breathed out. Luz chuckled, adjusting the straps of her backpack over her shoulder as her Mami finally looked up and noticed them. She beamed so widely Luz could see it from all the way up in the strawberry hills, waving towards them.

“Well, then let’s do this together.”

Amity looked back at her one more time, taking a deep breath. “Alright. Together.”

And as they walked through the fields hand in hand, slowly getting farther and farther away from camp, Luz felt her anxieties about the coming months slowly begin to fade. That was part of the magic of Camp Half-Blood. The place wasn’t just a training ground for young demigods. It was a safe haven. A family. A place that, even miles and miles away from it, you always knew it would have your back. It would be there for you, whenever you wanted to return. So leaving it didn’t feel like a goodbye, not really.

Instead, it was the promise of another new beginning as a child of the gods.

[taliel-strykidz]

The Long Run

(I don’t know what possessed me to write their first official date as a picnic with juice pouches.) 

It was almost a silent promise to eachother- No one knew when exactly it happened but it was almost as if they'd hopped into the routine instead of second guessing themselves. After a few weeks of filming for WGM the Jin-Huan couple were seemingly a real couple, with the way they would talk to eachother to actually living in the house provided for them. Like I said it was a silent agreement, that this was real and they wanted to make this to the long run.  Especially after the accident they decided that this was what they wanted, not having to keep a distance because people may get the wrong idea because they had been through too much to not be together at this point.

Huannie was the first to wake up to her phone ringing- after giving the camera a tired wave she quietly slid on her slippers and crapt out of the room, moving closer to the camera with an annoyed look to show the camera Jackson Wang calling. "No." She grumbled before declining the call and head straight for the kitchen.

"Yah, Hwang Dong-Hyun would it kill your producers budget to put some cereal in my cupboards? Would you like a coffee?" She complained to the camera man filming her as she waved the NCT127 coffee cup that Bao had gifted her at him. Waiting for the coffee maker she found herself having mindless conversations with Dong-Hyun about the day of filming, apologising in advance for the amount of running around he would have to do that day.  Upon having the banterful conversations with the camera man she failed to notice a disheveled Jinyoung exist the bedroom, almost jumping when she felt the warm arms wrap around her waist.

"Morning Jinyoungie." She mumbled continuing to make her and Dong-Hyun a cup of coffee.

"Morning Jagi- Where's mine?" He murmured into her neck seemingly pouting as she happily passed one over to their new friend and not him.

"Well maybe if a certain Jackson Wang didn't wake me up this morning you'd get a coffee, I thought you told to demon child not to call before ten?"

"Ani, Huannie you can't hold me responsible for JB's child." He complained reaching for her cup of coffee instead, to which the woman snatched it away from him.

"You can't just decide when they're your kids or not." She protested, turning around in his arms to look at him.

"Since you're being so mean this morning, I won't tell you where we're going." He sing songed running around the kitchen to avoid her. "We won't tell you will we Dong-Hyun?"

Reluctantly she made him a cup of coffee and slid it over to him with puppy dog eyes, the male glanced over to the camera man who shrugged his shoulder.

"Get dressed, we have a date to go on." He whispered, gently flicking her forehead.

"Ay, Jinyoungie tell me where we are going so I can dress appropiately!" She yelled after him as they sprinted to their spare room, of which they designated all of their clothes to be stored in. She was following close behind pouting like he had thrown her goldfish down the toilet, unbeknownst of the camera recording her being a pouty mess.

"No! Jagi- post that and you're dead." She threatened advancing toward him as he tried to find an escape route so he didn't get killed.  

"What colour do you like best? The white or the black?" He changed the subject holding up a white/grey summer dress and a black one, the woman only looked at his with skeptical eyes slowly taking the first option and backed away from him.

"Get dressed and bring a jacket we are going to our spot."

==

Huannie stood there in the dress he'd picked out and a pink cardigan, the grass tickling in small strokes, a beautiful green scenery for their first real date. She giggled as she noticed the quaint picnic set up in the middle of the sunflower feild, she knew before they walked any further that alot of things had changed emotionally for the two of them. But whatever was to come, it meant that the two didn't have to be afraid to let the other in anymore. Or perhaps it would stay the same, maybe it will be the turning point for them to finally admit to their feelings towards eachother. She purses her lips and speaks as if the information is of no importance. "Yah, Jinyoungie. I love it, just like the old days huh?"

"Oh, this, you like it? I thought we should start it officially in the place we began." Huannie grins as they go to sit in the middle of the sunflower feild watching the clouds form shapes above their heads.

Huannie had seen Jinyoung a thousand times in their house, washing the dishes or on stage performing. He's always been a part of her life, he fit into her life like one of the last few peices of a jigsaw. But now as they sat in the feild surrounded by so much beauty, he's all she saw there, the beautiful mid afternoon sun, the bright yellow sunflowers are a meaningless backdrop. They used to love sitting there all afternoon and smelling the sunflowers, but now all she wants is to be close enough to smell his calvin klein aftershave.

In the middle of preparing the juice pouches he looks her way, almost unable to keep the grin from his face. Dong-hyun debates if he should film this moment and makes a nervous decision to film such an important moment in Jin-Huan's relationship. Then he pulls his hand from out of the basket to reveal a beautiful looking cupcake with a little ring in the frosting.  There's no more hiding his grin.

"You bought me a ring? Are you sure?" She whispered, her fingers tracing the ring, allowing him to connect the ring onto her finger.

"How could I not be?" He replied, cupping her cheek so her beautiful tearful eyes met his own. She frowned at his answer for a moment, looking away to gaze at the flowers.  She loved the idea of it all, really if they were honest they'd been a real couple for over a year now, but both of them were too scared to have the conversation to make it official.  In that moment her insecurities come back for another bite so she turned to him again.

"Are you sure we can be?"

He turned to her with that serious look that still has his trademark warm eyes, "So long as you're okay with it. The problems can go fuck themselves jagi." She knew what he was talking about, he was talking about her company, the anti's. It was something that should be such a minute problem, but as Idols they are supposed to abide by the rules and please everyone that wasn't their selves.

They stared at eachother in an odd way, as if it were a silent argument. Their own insecurities battling eachother, until tears of relief arose, and they found themselves crying.

"So we are in it for the long run?" She whispered, tears rolling down with the same quietness. He chuckled tearily, wiping his own tears, before rising from the picnic blanket and wandered toward his bag beside Dong-Hyun with a cautious slowness. His hand curled around his own new ring and staggered over to her handing it to her.

"If you'll take me, that is."

Huannie felt the urge to do something, to confirm it to him, but also herself. In a split moment of fight or flight she pressed her lips against his, feeling his body loosen and arms cup her jaw. She chuckled beneath they happpy tears.

"For the long run."

(The rings)

[quicksilverlightning]

The All Might Fan Forum Discussion Board, Part Two

ALL MIGHT FAN FORUM General Discussion All Might Battles Meeting All Might      Rescued by All Might      All Might Encounters      >Small Might Encounters (New!) Fanart and Fanfiction

Gone4-a-Jog

Small Might Sensei

I like to go jogging. I started recently and I’m not very good at it – I can’t run very fast or very long. But I like taking different routes and discovering new places when I stop to catch my breath. It was during one of my longer runs that I bumped into All Might.

I’d heard someone behind me a few minutes before I stopped to put my hands on my knees and try to gulp down as much air as possible, but didn’t hear that he stopped when I did so I jumped and nearly fell on my ass when I got upright, then nearly fell again when I saw who it was and this long sentence doesn’t begin to cover the comedy of errors that was my life in these few moments.

He stopped cause I was running wrong. Sidenote: there’s a such thing as running wrong. Apparently, you want to land in the middle of your foot and try not to land on your heel at all cause that can cause problems. He also taught me a few breathing rhythms for different intensities of runs.

He ran with me for about twenty minutes, correcting my bad posture and seriously I know every post on this forum says it, but All Might is super, super nice. Like, you’d think he’d have at least a little ego or something, but he doesn’t. He just wants to help everyone. He said hello to everyone we passed and doubled back to throw away a bottle someone dropped. He’d so nice you guys.

I’ve been using what he taught me for a few days now, and haven’t gotten a stitch in my side once. It’s so much easier to run now. Thanks Sensei!

Pepper-oni

Seatmates!

Small Might sat next to me on the bus. Pretty sure he could have had any seat he wanted no matter how crowded it was, but he was really polite and kinda awkward about asking if he could sit with me. Meanwhile, I’m internally screaming while trying to keep it cool on the outside.

He was texting someone on his phone – I tried not to stare, but it’s All Might, you know? I didn’t catch much, just that he was proud of someone, which, hello, is so frickking cute. He looked happy.

m0toroildrmz

A brief conversation with my mother:

“Mom, do you know who that was?”

“No?”

“That was All Might! All Might, mom!”

I leave my mom alone for five seconds to use the bathroom, and I come back to ALL MIGHT helping her with her English crossword puzzles. She didn’t even get an autograph for me.

oba-san581

the beach

I don’t know why it took so very long for it to click – after his last battle, I couldn't shake the feeling that I’d seen that tall, skinny man somewhere before. And he is such a distinctive gentleman; I was sure I knew him, somehow. It wasn’t until I met him on the beach that it finally fell into place.

I’m retired these days, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Every day, I take a walk from my home to the library and back. Sometimes I stay a few minutes, sometimes the entire day gets away from me. For months, almost every day without fail, there was a man and a boy cleaning the shoreline near my home. They would be there when I left for the day, and were still there when I came back. The boy was a scrappy, freckled little thing, cute as a button. The man was slender, but undeniably strong – he would step in to help with some of the bigger appliances, but mostly directed the boy and cheered him on.

I stopped to speak to them a few times; the boy was such a polite young man, and All Might was genial and humble. I never would have known. I could never have guessed had I not met him again, returning from the library with a book to enjoy near the waves.

It’s strange; heroes are so flashy these days, hustle and bustle and fight and move. And we appreciate them, need them. But there’s something so very special about the little things. All Might personally spent almost a year helping clean up a beach. Would anyone else in the top ten have done that?

He was every bit as kind as I remembered. He doesn’t accept praise very well, insisted the beach was all the boy’s doing. Which is fair enough I suppose – he did most of the heavy lifting. Even so, that man was out there almost every single day, with lunch and water and cheer and kind words. It warmed my heart, watching the two of them progress across the sand. I’m so glad All Might is a teacher now; those kids are in good hands.

spite-and-aesthetic

again with the cats

small might plucked my cat out of a tree AGAIN – same cat same tree he even fucking remembered me is this guy for real?

MKPlusUltra

All Might does not skip Leg Day

So I��m minding my own business, checking messages on my phone, waiting on my drink order, when there’s some commotion across the street – lotta loud noise, people screaming and running, standard-issue villain-tries-to-rob-the-till-at-the-combini sort of afternoon. It’s a tall guy with, like, I guess it’s a stretch Quirk off some kind? He looks like he walked out of some old-timey cartoon, all wiggly limbs bouncing everywhere, running from what looks like some rookie Pro – I don’t even think they were a rookie yet; maybe an intern? Anyway, Noodle Arms is booking it, Intern is after him as fast as his short legs can manage. Leggy clears the street in one jump and starts twisting his head around like he can’t decide where to go next.

It’s at that moment when All Might himself exits the building next to mine, one hand leaving his pocket to check his watch and Noodle makes a decision.

Now look, I’m gonna break this down into slo-mo for ya, cause seriously, it was a thing of beauty. It was one, smooth, impossibly cool-looking move, and every piece of it needs to be appreciated. This DUMBASS, who clearly had no plan whatsoever beyond “grab a hostage,” honestly thinks he can take on ALL MIGHT, I guess cause he’s skinny now or something. He wraps his stupid noodle limbs around him and All Might doesn’t even twitch when Dumbass constricts his arms and waves a gun around. Dumbass is yelling something, I don’t know what, who tf cares. All Might kinda tilts his head, wriggles his shoulders a bit, then lifts his arms up and slides out of the jacket so fast the fabric doesn’t even lose its shape. I’m not even kidding, it looked like it was on an invisible mannequin, this move came straight from the Acme school of How To Defy Physics. Dumbass has just enough time to look shocked before he’s eating a size 13 leather shoe – All Might dropped to his haunches, made a quarter-turn, and kicked his leg up and back, straight into the jaw of Dumbass. He kicks him so hard his feet actually lift off the ground and he flies backwards into a streetlamp.

All Might doesn’t even look angry; he just looks Annoyed, like someone forgot to put sugar in his coffee. He picks up his jacket and slings it over a shoulder and waits around a few minutes for the police to catch up and haul Noodle McDumbass into custody while Short Intern babbles away with stars in his eyes. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

AM_FAN0112

HE’S BACK

HE HASN’T BEEN TO THE SHOP IN THREE MONTHS TOSHINORI YOU USELESS SUNFLOWER I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU. I LEFT SO MANY TEARS ON HIS JACKET

YOU FUCKING SWEETHEART. YOU ABSOLUTE RAY OF LITERAL SUNSHINE. I WILL SAVE EVERY COPY OF SUGAR SUGAR CAT CAFE FOR YOU I WILL READ EVERY SINGLE DUMBASS ROMANCE MANGA I CAN FIND I WILL WORK IN THIS TINY BOOKSHOP FOR THE REST OF MY STUPID LIFE JUST NEVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU AWKWARD JACKRABBIT DON’T EVER LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THAT AGAIN

I’M SORRY FOR SCREAMING I JUST MISSED HIM SO MUCH HE’S MY FAVORITE CUSTOMER EVEN BEFORE I KNEW HE WAS ALL MIGHT. HE’S AN ADORABLE OLD MAN

RedRibbon

A good man

Perhaps it’s a little unfair for me to comment since I work in the Tower. Still, there are some things I wanted to share with the world and this is a good place to do it.

I’ve been at the agency for three years now, mainly doing secretarial work. My direct superior is a man named Yagi-san. Yagi-san acted as All Might’s personal assistant, right hand man, concierge, whatever you want to call it. Telling something to Yagi-san was as good as telling it to All Might directly. I, along with everyone else in the Tower, learned why that night in Kamino.

I’ve read many, many posts on these discussion boards and if I were to identify a unifying theme that everyone seems to mention, it’s that All Might is a nice guy. That he really, honestly cares. That he worries about the little things just as much as the big things. I’ve worked with Yagi-san for three years and can confirm that none of it is a show for the adoring public – it’s all 100% true.

Let me tell you something, I worked with Miruko’s agency before All Might’s, and Wash before that, but unless the two of them also have secret identities, neither one of them was on the ground floor pushing pencils with the rest of us like All Might was. I’ve seen Yagi-san escorting new hires around the building when they get lost. I’ve seen him roll up his sleeves and change a busted printer cartridge, ink all over his shirt. He knows everyone’s birthday. He’ll do coffee runs, answer the phones, make deliveries, grab lunch, whatever you need. I’ve seen him as All Might, shutting the press down when they start getting pushy with the employees, or dropping by the daycare and making the kids light up.

I’ve never seen him complain. I’ve never seen him brush anyone off. I’ve never seen him be rude, or arrogant, or insulting, or aloof. I’ve never seen him treat anyone as lesser, as if they weren’t worth his time. Yagi-san lifted morale just by being in the building, the way All Might cut crime rates just by existing. Everyone in the agency loved Yagi-san just as much as they loved the hero; everyone had a story about All Might, and another one about Yagi-san. I’ve seen a few of those stories on this very board.

But this one is mine:

Ever since high school, I’ve used a ribbon to keep the hair out of my face. I love my curls, but they can be a nuisance waving around at the edge of my vision, so I keep them pulled back. I like using ribbons because scrunchies often get caught in my un-tameable mess of hair.

My ribbon snapped one day at work. It wasn’t a big deal – just a minor annoyance to have to keep pushing my hair back. But Yagi-san noticed. He noticed without anyone saying anything, and came back from lunch thirty minutes later with a beautiful red ribbon that he tied into my hair.

It really is the little things that matter the most. This tiny little gesture made me feel seen, acknowledged, valued. Not just as an employee, but as a person. All Might cares about those kinds of things – his employees aren’t subordinates, they’re people. He doesn’t rescue victims, he recuses people. He doesn’t pull you up to his level; he gets on yours and puts you on his shoulders.

I’ve worn that ribbon nearly every day for two years. It’s gotten thin in places, kinda frayed at the edges, but still doing its job faithfully. A bit little like the man who gave it to me.

[wafflewarriors]

The Not-So French Mistake

Chapter 2: Reluctant Researching

Castiel awoke drowsily, his back and legs cramped from his contortion against the wall, a blanket draped over him. His thoughts were slow, and he recognized Dean’s shape, which had deflated into a dormant state in the desk chair while the sun was peeking over the horizon steadily.

The girl, who was splayed along the couch, stirred beside Castiel, who was currently accompanying the floor. Her stable, slow breaths vivified, and she awoke with a gruff sigh. “Hm?” she murmured hoarsely, lethargy still weighing her words. Once again, she didn’t recognize her surroundings, and panic snapped away her drowsiness.

She fumbled to sit up, backing into the armrest of the couch. In a blind scramble to search for a weapon, she snatched a loaded gun off the coffee table that had been deserted casually after a past hunt. She clicked the safety off with professional haste and aimed the barrel at the nose of the man before her.

Castiel froze, a moment of doubt sifting through his bloodstream. Typically, he would not waver when faced with a pistol, but he had to consider his predicament cautiously. While his grace still lingered within him, his powers were dwindling. Primal instincts such as hunger and sleep were solid proof of his increasing humanity. Castiel hesitated because he wasn’t certain that the bullet wound would ever heal with his lacking angel abilities.

Some instinct within him, likely more human than angel, urged him to suffer to a terror deep in his gut as the pistol aimed at him. Perhaps Jimmy Novak was steering such a response.

Her hand trembled as it gripped the gun.. Just one tremor and his vessel’s brain could splatter the wallpaper. He would rather Jimmy not endure such. If he would ever persuade the weapon’s parting, she would need to be calm.

Intentionally slow, he raised his hands. “It isn’t what it looks like,” he insisted kindly. He wished Dean would waken already. Why, of all times, must he sleep now?

She squinted and trembled less, anger washing over her. “Really?” she challenged, “Because it looks like I’ve been kidnapped―twice now!” Fury twisted her features now she held the upper hand. “Somebody better offer answers! Where am I?”

Dean had risen from his brief sleep, escaping even the notice of Cas. “A place you do not belong, trust me.“.

She observed the hunter sternly, rage voicing her actions. He was built like a soldier but dressed in leathery materials. His worn jacket was a simple brown, along with boot-leg denim jeans, and logger boots. The ancient necklace dangling to his collarbone rocked against his black button-up.

“Everyone keeps saying that,” she hissed sourly, “and it’s ticking me off.” The gun pressed against the cartilage of Castiel’s nose, firmly held.

“Okay, okay.” Dean acceded, glancing toward the stairs and doors to check for any thing that might send her into a spontaneous round of shooting. Finding none, he gave her what she wanted: the truth. “Angels abducted you,” he responded outright, smugly awaiting her response.

She dug the barrel of the pistol into Castiel’s cheek and said, “And? You think I haven’t gathered that?”

Castiel, having finally controlled his fragile humane responses to threat (specifically reigning Jimmy), was now curious. “How is it obvious?”

She shot a skeptical gaze to the angel. “Your wings… they’re kind of difficult to ignore.” She gestured with her free arm to his sides. “The other brutes who manhandled me also had those stupid feathered appendages, so give me one reason why I shouldn’t shoot you in the face right now.” Her voice was frigid.

“My wings?” Castiel wondered aloud, “You can see them?”

Dean laughed, “Wait, wait, you actually have wings?” He inspected the angel’s shoulders from where he stood, expecting to see feathers. “How can she see them?”

At the sudden movement, the girl balked, “I will shoot him.” Not an ounce of humor laced her tone or expression.

He shrugged it off. “Ain’t going to do a thing, sweetheart. Not a scratch.”

“Would you like me to test the theory?”

“If it makes you feel better.” Dean said, jutting his chin. He was clearly confident in the angel’s abilities.

Castiel, however, was not so confident. “Dean,” he berated. “That is not wise. My grace is withering as we speak. A bullet will render me useless. I suggest we present her with information.” Despite the steady advice, the silent plea rang like a church bell.

Deflated, Dean sighed. “Right, okay, but can you at least lower the gun? It’s stressing him out.”

She agreed, and allowed the weapon to rest on her leg, hand tense and prepared. “Now, what is going on and where am I?”

Dean worried his lip, knowing the answer to the question was flat-out batty to regular civilians. “At least give us your name. ‘The girl’ has become popular, but I’m assuming you wouldn’t be too fond of that nickname.”

“Sydney. Quit stalling.”

Dean lifted his hands in surrender. “If you say so, cupcake.” He sat back into his seat while his fingernails secretly etched into the wood. “You’re in another dimension. Some angels swapped you into our reality. For whatever reason, we don’t know. We rescued you. Whatever plans they had for you, they probably weren’t legal. Not that angels care about legal.” He gestured to the clutter and stacks of books around them. “We’re researching dimensional travel, okay? Castiel here could transport you back, but he says he’s drained. And apparently, it’s nearly impossible otherwise.”

She halted any further movement, recognition flaring within her eyes. “No,” she denied. “No, this is―no.”

Castiel and Dean eyed her in mild concern.

She laughed half-heartedly, “I knew this seemed too familiar, but…. you’re Dean and Castiel, aren’t you?” After a pause, she cussed under her breath. Their silence had answered her inquiry. “Jesus. And Sam’s outside?”

Dean nodded warily, “How―”

She suddenly felt dizzy. “Because I have a friend who watches this, um, television show? It’ called Supernatural. You’re the Winchesters. God, this show has no freaking fourth wall,” she said, her hands meeting her temples to calm her racing mind.

“Oh, great,” Dean cheered sarcastically. “Another universe where our lives are just another television show. Always fond of those. Tell me something: why on earth would people enjoy watching our lives?”

She laughed at the sheer stupidity of her situation. “Because you guys are heroes! You’ve had your rough spots and sore years, but no matter how many trials and obstacles block your way, you push on. It’s inspiring, and a bit depressing, if you ask me.” Sydney shook her head in disbelief. “You’re popular where I’m from, if it helps anything. You’re a worldwide-famous kind of deal. My friend, Iris, is obsessed with you two.”

Worldwide, huh? Dean sported a pained expression. “Well, if you know who we are, then you know we’re here to help.”

She nodded thoughtfully, the gun in her hand slackening as her grip loosened. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess.” She clicked the safety back into place and set the weapon onto the coffee table in front of her. Slumping into the couch, she assessed her fate. “Oh my god, I just threatened you guys with a gun. I just threatened Dean Winchester with a gun. I’m so screwed,” she squeaked. The butterflies in the pit of her stomach panicked as excitement and fear battled within her.

Dean fidgeted. “You’re fine. No harm done. We get it a lot, actually.” Being addressed as something of a celebrity was as awkward as it was foreign. The most famous he’d ever been was Most Wanted in America, and even that was a stretch, being legally dead, and all.

The front door creaked open and in trudged the groggy moose himself: Sam Winchester. His clothes were wrinkled from curling into the car seats and tossing restlessly. Along with that, the bruises under his eyes had faded into a pale grey.

Sydney observed his status: hair length told her she was dealing with sometime around Season 8, and his plaid button-up was sagging from the boiling temperatures outside the air-conditioned walls. “The car is like an oven today. It nearly baked me alive,” he complained, rolling up his sleeves to cool himself. Meeting the eyes of Sydney, he lit up, “You’re awake.”

“Impeccable timing, as television goes,” Sydney commented tersely. Her attitude was peckish and cheeky while her body language read bitter. Overall, it was a crappy demeanor.

“What?” Sam’s eyebrows crept up to his hairline as he attempted to soak in the criticism so early in the morning. Especially out of the person they saved yesterday. Gratitude was difficult to come by these days. “What’s she talking about?”

She studied Sam oddly, “You’re fake. You gotta be. That’s my conclusion. This is all too freaking specific and creepy.”

Dean had had enough. He retorted indignantly, “From my perspective, you’re the fake one. I’ve spent a majority of my life learning what is real, and this world is definitely one.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t take advice from a fictional character,” she said hotly.

Sam could see this argument was heading on a dangerous path, so he briskly intervened, his tone clipped, “If you would be rational, you would realize you’re both real―because you can physically see each other.”

Castiel agreed. “Sam’s right: an argument over this is not productive. You’re just unaware of each other’s existence, considering the wall separating your realities. ”

They were ganging up on her. Sydney snapped toward the angel, “I’m still not convinced that this isn’t a dream… or nightmare, for that matter.” She paused, “Why am I dreaming about you now?”

This was nightmare-worthy. Three very intimidating men had her surrounded in an unfamiliar house, and were arguing heatedly over whether they were a figment of her own imagination. Also, this could definitely be considered kidnapping. The only things that were keeping her compliant were their faultless references to Supernatural and their apparent copy-paste faces that matched their description and behavior down to the freckles.

“Who’s to say anything isn’t a dream?” Sam was now suggesting, which was enough to hold her tongue for the moment.

“Besides,” Dean countered, “a dream this vivid would be the work of angels. So either way, angels are meddling with your cantaloupe, kid.” Dean quipped, tipping the empty glass on the table in a search for alcohol. The dry bottom disappointed him. He stood, prepared to scavenge the fridge, but an arm blocked his path. An inevitable foe: the determined moose.

“We need you sober, Dean. Don’t think I didn’t notice the empty bottles in the kitchen.” Sam advised, squandering any of Dean’s future intentions.

Dean felt attacked; was he that predictable? “But―” He dared to argue. Seeing Sam’s persistence, he obliged. “All right, okay.”

Sydney crossed her arms in obstinance. “Prove it. Prove this isn’t a dream.”

Dean appeared agitated by the ridiculous demand. He said, “And how are we supposed to that? We can’t just―”

“Actually you can,” Sam interrupted with a barely tolerable amount of excitement. One of these days, Dean would need to exit the room after practically smelling the amount of dork that radiated off of his brother. “It’s impossible to read numbers or words when you’re dreaming. It’ll resemble scribbles and babble because your brain doesn’t process them into REM sleep. So if we have to prove our authenticity, check and help us research while you’re at it.” He nodded keenly, a sly glint in his eyes. He had won.

She glared, aware she had been outwitted. “Fine,” she bit out venomously. She swiveled toward the unending stack of books littering the living room and plucked an unsuspecting hardcover. Once freeing its stiff pages, her jaw clenched in silent disbelief to her discovery.

Dean lifted an eyebrow and concluded his next actions would be to check up on his Baby, and not make friends with more booze, in heed to Sam’s wishes.

Sam trailed along.. “She sure is something,” he finally said after the recent aggressive standoff.

“A tiger,” Dean agreed.

The sun channeled down to the earth with one sweeping, broiling gaze; anything in its view was showered in waves of heat. Pine trees withered, leaves shriveled, and life wilted. The sun’s torrid touch sent ripples into the air as another summer day sprang into a heat spell. Dean found the feverish weather unnatural in the fall months, but August had recently withdrawn, so nobody paid mind. It was just ‘mother nature doing her thing’.

Something told Dean that the sun’s slow ability to rise automatically equaled a long, tiresome day. He wasn’t ready for it, or anything for that matter, but he was bracing himself for the inevitable.

He patted the Impala fondly, which had cooked to a temperature nearly that of a hot stove, and admired his car’s brilliance in the rays of the amber morning sun. The hood was gleaming, the windows were glossy, and the bumper glittered in a metallic luster. He had been tempted to kiss her if she hadn’t been scalding hot. His Baby was gorgeous.

Sam, amused by Dean’s worship over his vehicle, smiled faintly. That car had seen the worst and the best of times since the day they were born. No matter what wreck got into, Dean would fix her right up to the childhood imperfections and all. Dean was adamant about leaving each flaw and fault in the car from their youth to preserve its personality. What would the Impala be without the army man that Sam crammed into the ashtray or Legos that Dean shoved into the vents? 

“Even when Dean rebuilt her from the ground up, he made sure all these little things stayed, ‘cause it’s the blemishes that make her beautiful.” ~Chuck Shurley

That car had been around longer than anyone ever involved in their twisted lifestyles.

Sam recalled the days when wide, toothy grins and trivial pranks had been common practice. Back then, their ambition of the family business had been guided by positive energy and hadn’t yet weighed on them like a clingy burden. Hunting hadn’t been a chore: it had been a personal commitment. They had saved people because they knew of the lurking evil and how to defend against them. They helped because they could and it was right.

Of course, their reason for hunting still existed, but back then it had been simpler. Dig the grave, salt, burn; find the monster, how to kill it, and go through with that plan. There were no complicated angel issues, no Leviathans, and they had been spared the constant deaths. Now, it was their job and duty to save the world at any moment’s notice, which seemed outright wrong for anyone to have forced upon them. Even the undefeated Winchesters.

Fortunately, no matter how much crap they endured, the Impala remained intact. And within all the memories stuffed and crammed into Sam’s worn mind, their car was always present.

Sam gave the Impala a little pat of his own, compelled to acknowledge the vehicle’s constant stability throughout his life, whether or not it was just a car. He owed it that.

Dean was almost antsy as he sat on the polished hood. “Sam, something ain’t right with that girl.” His thumb absentmindedly rubbed at the metal, smudging it with a line of oily fingerprints and then yanking his hand away as the roasting metal met his skin. Dean had done so twice now, which told Sam that something was unquestionably at the forefront of his brother’s thoughts.

Sam took a special interest in the claim, weighing what had riled him. “What makes you say that?” He had noticed nothing suspicious about her, just that she was as feisty as they got.

“She can see his wings, Sammy.” he said, licking his lips and lowering his voice to an urgent whisper. “Castiel’s. ”

Intrigued, Sam pinched his lips, and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. “Cas has wings?” He tried to visualize the concept, but the notion of invisible feathers adorning Castiel’s backside sounded bizarre.

“I know, that’s what I said!” Dean exclaimed animatedly at the relation. “I didn’t even know he had wings. I thought that was just a metaphor for his mojo or something.” He itched for a drink. “I’m telling you, something about this is bad news.”

“Alright.” Sam believed him. After all the hardship they had coped, he knew that when Dean had an intuition, it was usually correct. “But, what’s got you like this though? We deal with this stuff all the time.”

Dean shrugged, his shoulders rigid. “I don’t know. But it’s not settling in my gut right. I mean, with angels involved and a separate dimension, this could be anything,” he said, his point becoming clearer. Angels, in their book, were commonly associated with chaos. Apocalypse, Lucifer, Leviathans… you couldn’t blame the hunters for suspecting another round of mayhem they would be enforced to patch up for the ignorant celestial beings.

“You’re right,” Sam admitted. “So… I guess we do what we’ve always done, then. Find out what we’re dealing with and do what we have to.”

They understood.

[tvdversefanfiction]

Canary Carnage

Fandoms: Arrowverse, DC Universe, TVDverse and The Originals

Chapter Ten: Lost Canaries

Warnings: I don’t own any of the rights, content or characters belonging to any of the DC content I use within the story along with not owning any rights, content or characters within The Vampire Diaries, Originals or Legacies.

18 Rating: Moderate/Graphic displays of violence, sexual innuendos, sexually charged scenes, SMUT, strong language and potentially triggering scenes.

Pairings: M/M, F/F, M/F.

Laurel Lance had returned to Earth Blood and New Orleans with her mother Dinah with the hopes of seeking redemption for her son from the future the only problem was she couldn’t find her secret son who believed she was his sister and that had her worried not to mention she couldn’t find her mother either not knowing her mother had been murdered by her son.

She was determined to find them both determined to have her family reunited one way or another but as the weeks passed by she began to fear the worst terrified her desperate pleas to Elijah Mikaelson had went unanswered horrified at the idea that both her mother and her son were already dead.

Of course she was only half right her mother Dinah Lance had been murdered but it was her son Lucas Lance who was the culprit although Klaus Mikaelson did help him cover his tracks before handing him over to the daughter of the demon Nyssa Al Ghul after some unsettling news about a Lazarus Pit.

Laurel was determined to learn the truth one way or another even if it meant declaring war on the Mikaelson’s, going head to head in battle was something the Black Canary was used to it was something she could handle but what Laurel Lance could never handle was the devastating truth just waiting to be uncovered.

“I’m not saying we sit around and do-nothing Laurel…I’m just saying we need to tackle this wisely.” Sara said to her older sister Laurel as the two sat at the bar counter in the bar of the New Orleans Voyage Hotel, each of them nursing a bottle of beer. “Especially considering you and Marcel botched the whole sleeping poison idea.”

“If I had known they would take Dinah and Lucas I’d have personally hand delivered the poison to them both!” Laurel snapped at her younger sister just before Klaus vamp sped into the bar, instantly making the two sisters rise to their feet, placing down their beers on the bar counter, both ready to take on the original hybrid.

“It’s not nice to go around throwing accusations especially at a new friend who is only trying to help.” Klaus told them both.

“How the hell did you get in here without being invited?” Sara furiously asked the immortal man.

“In case you forgot I got rather close to your brother before he decided to go on holiday.” Klaus replied to Sara with a sinister smirk, all to eager to mention his history with the girls’ brother. “Don’t get me wrong suddenly deciding to go off on holiday with your ex-girlfriend league assassin Nyssa Al Ghul just when your mother goes missing is a tad suspicious but I doubt he had time to slaughter her with all the packing he would have to do.”

“You seriously expect us to believe Nyssa and Lucas are on holiday together hell I don’t even believe she’s still on this earth.” Sara said making clear she didn’t believe a word Klaus was saying.

“Why would you even try cover your tracks?” Laurel asked, not quite trusting the original hybrid but not completely distrusting him either. “If you murdered the both of them why aren’t you showing up here boasting about it?”

“I always knew you were the smart sister Laurel.” Klaus complimented the Black Canary while throwing some shade at the White Canary at the same time. “If I had killed either of them, I’d be all to glad to gloat, but the truth is I’m innocent.”

“What the hell would Nyssa want with Lucas?” Sara demanded to know.

“She’s an assassin which makes her a worthy ally to him the boy isn’t stupid he’s clearly switched sides before we stuck in the knife.” Klaus answered her before letting out a reluctant sigh. “However, my brother Elijah seems to think we should stop this little war of ours…so I won’t make a move if you don’t.”

“You mean if you haven’t already.” Sara snapped at Klaus, believing with certainty that he killed their mother.

“You mother is probably just taking the time needed to get over the fact she’s been raising her grandson as a son for all these years.” Klaus revealed all too eagerly knowing it would force Laurel into revealing the rest of the truth to Sara.

On an earth with no Gotham, Star or Central City there was still an infamous island called Lian Yu the same island in which Oliver Queen and Sara Lance washed ashore before being swept up within the carnage of the league of assassins and Nyssa Al Ghul thought they was no better place to take Lucas Lance knowing he couldn’t just escape the remote island which was the perfect location for nobody to find them.

Nyssa felt immense guilt over her and her group of assassins murdering Sara even if their murder didn’t exactly stick and believed saving Lucas from the demon inside him following a bath in the Lazarus Pit hoping that by giving Sara her brother back it would somehow make up for their twisted past knowing it would be anything but an easy task.

“Here’s me thinking you were going to leave me down here for the rest of my life.” Lucas complained as he stood in his underground bunker cell with a power dampener collar around his neck, as Nyssa climbed down the bunker ladder to stand in front of the Red Canary’s cell.

“Infinity Island is one of many places that doesn’t exist on this Earth clearly there’s something special about Lian Yu on every Earth including this one.” Nyssa replied to him. “The only problem is if there’s no Infinity Island than there’s no Lazarus Pit of course there have been other Lazarus Pits, but I highly doubt they exist on this Earth.”

“Okay then I’ll just ask the question you want me to ask already. What the bloody hell is a Lazarus Pit?” Lucas asked the demon’s daughter, trying to hide his curiosity.

“After your mother came to the present from the future to deliver you to your grandparents at a later date many years later a future version of my father came to Infinity Island to deliver the news of where the undead child was which is the reason Ra’s Al Ghul took such special interest in Sara Lance and Oliver Queen in the first place.” Nyssa revealed to a stunned Lucas, who was still reeling from the fact Dinah Lance wasn’t his biological mother. “My father both in the present and the future is desperate to get you under his control for the same reason your real mother The Black Canary traveled back in time to hide you.”

“That can’t be possible Laurel’s my big sister there’s only like three years between us that’s biologically impossible not to mention one hell of a mind fuck.” Lucas replied, in complete disbelief of what Nyssa was telling him.

“Her future version was more than old enough to bare a child and she did…you.” Nyssa continued to inform the Red Canary. “Funnily enough my father in the future first believed you were special because you were the son of the Black Canary and the Green Arrow although after he kidnapped you, he truly learned just how special you were.”

“You seriously expect me to believe that my sister Laurel and her cheating ex Oliver are my parents?” Lucas scoffed at the demon’s daughter. “And people think I’m the crazy one.”

“Let’s go for a little walk I have a feeling the fresh air will probably go rather well with what I am to tell you next.” Nyssa said as she pulled out a key from her jacket pocket and unlocked Lucas’ cell door. “Of course, you can try to escape but I can ensure you only I can find the only way off this island Mr Lance.”

The thought of escaping Lian Yu was on Lucas Lance’s mind for sure but first he wanted to hear more about this story Nyssa was spinning about his own origins not fully believe the assassin but refusing to try to escape until after her story about him had ended just in case she was telling him the truth.

The Red Canary always wanted someone to believe he was special and now he had found that someone he quickly realized being special had already came with too much burden including being kidnapped by the demon’s daughter after killing the woman who raised him.

Laurel Lance was the type of woman who would always seek out the truth no matter what and so when her future son alongside her mother suddenly vanished of the face of Earth Blood she decided to seek out the wonder witch Davina Claire’s help to locate them both with a certain spell.

She may have believed Klaus hadn’t killed Lucas due to his reasoning being too strange to be a lie but she also believe he was hiding something and she needed to know why, why the original hybrid would cover for Lucas, why Lucas would suddenly disappear with Nyssa and why she couldn’t find her mother.

Laurel’s most recent alliance with Davina led to a failed poisoning attempt on the Mikaelson’s, Davina and Sara not getting the chance to even try poisoning the others before Laurel and Marcel botched things and so the Black Canary was hoping the New Orleans witch regent didn’t blame her too much, hoping even if she did she’d still help her in her search for answers.

“I’m sorry Laurel but I really don’t have time to be seen doing favors for you not while I try and work out what the hell the Mikaelson’s are planning in response to our rather failed attempt to take them out.” Davina told Laurel as they walked through the Lafayette Cemetery side by side. “I know Marcel’s safe considering his venom can literally kill them which means I need to protect myself and my witches and that’s where all my attention should be focused on.”

“I get this war with the witches and the vampires has been going on for centuries and I know Klaus is a formidable foe, but I really need this locating spell Davina I’m scared for my mother and Lucas.” Laurel replied to the young witch. “Somethings just not right and I can feel it…I know I fucked shit up and I’m really sorry for that Davina I really am but please don’t take it out on my family please help me.”

“Fine,” Davina said with a reluctant sigh as they both stopped walking. “It seems like I’m forever finding lost canaries for you…but I have come to think of you as something of a friend, so I’ll do it but you’re going to owe me!”

“Trust me I’ll help you with whatever Mikaelson plan you have next once I’ve got my family back in fact we’ll all help you better three canary cries than just one and Sara’s got that whole vamp/assassin thing going for her too so let’s not count out the White Canary.” Laurel mumbled as she thanked and hugged Davina, delighted to get the help she so badly needed in finding her son and her mother.

“You’re a great person Laurel and that’s very rare around here!” Davina admitted as she broke off her hug with the Black Canary. “I just hope wherever they maybe you’re not walking into some trap because nobody should ever trust Klaus Mikaelson.”

Davina was right just because she could magic up a location for Laurel didn’t mean that location was anywhere near safe for Laurel to go to but Laurel was more than willing to take the risk in order to have her family reunited once again not fully realizing that once she found Lucas Lance that she would discover a certain canary was lost forever.

Sara Lance was beyond furious, furious with her mother for lying to her all her life, furious with Laurel for not opening up to her, furious with Klaus for having something to do with her mother’s disappearance and furious at the thought that her first true love Nyssa Al Ghul was behind Lucas’ abrupt exit from New Orleans.

She couldn’t take out her anger on Laurel knowing her sister had only recently found out the truth and was clearly having trouble adjusting besides it would be hypocritical considering Sara hid the fact she was alive for many years and she couldn’t take it out on her missing brother/nephew and mother so she decided who best to take it out on.

Sara showed up in the compound dressed up in her White Canary suit while holding her bo-staff which she had soaked in Marcel’s venom having borrowed it intending to poison Klaus Mikaelson deciding it was time to go through with that particular plan even if anyone else had backed out.

“It wouldn’t be wise to anger my brother Niklaus he very rarely offers to back down against enemies especially those who have murdered our sister.” Elijah warned Sara after vamp speeding his way over to stand in front of her. “I’d advise you’d leave our home now before I decide to be less forgiving than my younger brother.”

“Here’s the thing he knows where my family is which means I’m not going anywhere until I get answers.” Sara replied to the noble original before hitting him with her staff straight across the face, his skin burning at the touch of the White Canary’s poisoned staff.

Sara continued to hit Elijah with her staff hitting him in the face once more before two more hits in the stomach and a singular hit below his feet causing the original to fall flat to the ground before she quickly pressed the staff harshly down on Elijah’s throat causing him to groan in pain as the poison continued to burn his body.

“The next hit I’ll make will be straight through the chest and even you can’t survive that.” Sara warned him while pressing the staff down harder onto Elijah’s throat. “You maybe a 1000-year-old vampire but I was trained by a 500-year-old assassin that plus the newfound vamp strength makes me much more of a weapon than when I was alive…now tell me where my brother is!”

“I have no idea.” Elijah managed to force out of himself before Sara quickly used her bo-staff to force Elijah’s head to the other side, snapping his neck and knocking him unconscious in the process as Klaus vamp sped into the compound to stand in front of Sara, who was more than ready to take down another original.

“I was convinced I was going to have to rush in and stop you killing my brother and yet you just put him to sleep for a little bit…why?” Klaus asked, confused to why the former league of assassin’s member was showing kindness.

“Yeah well my sister likes that one and the blonde-haired vamp but lucky for me she’s not so keen on you!” Sara informed Klaus as she slowly began walking towards the original hybrid, ready to take him out.

“Clearly being the nice guy gets you nowhere I keep telling my siblings, but they just don’t listen.” Klaus laughed at the White Canary. “Your ex took your brother/nephew to Lian Yu to help him with his little problem now if you would please leave these premises before I show you how natural the bad guy role comes to me.”

“Lian Yu…” Sara said in shock as she began backing away with Klaus. “I didn’t even know that place existed on this Earth…why would she take him there?”

“Because he murdered your mother.” Klaus wasted no time in revealing, watching as Sara face began to display her devastation before she vamp sped out of sight, clearly having heard enough from the original hybrid.

That time around Sara Lance believed Klaus’ words somehow knowing deep down it was true the minute he revealed the truth to her as she was left devastated to learn of her mother’s death and even more furious than before as she realized the man she believed to be her baby brother was the one responsible for it.

Klaus Mikaelson never intended to tell Sara the truth having previously helped cover it up due to his strange and ever growing bond with Lucas Lance but a part of him enjoyed hurting the White Canary he liked seeing the woman who murdered his sister in pain and in those brief moments he had found his revenge for Freya Mikaelson and Keelin Malraux’s deaths but straight after revealing the truth he began to feel something he rarely ever felt and that was guilt.

Nyssa al Ghul wanted nothing more than to help Lucas Lance expel or at least control the demon within him knowing she stood some chance at doing one or the other considering Lucas had been co-existing with the demon most of his life without even knowing anything about it but then again there was very little the Red Canary knew about his life.

Lucas had lived his entire life until very recently believing Dinah and Quentin Lance were his parents not his grandparents and thanks to his trip to Lian Yu had only just discovered that his eldest sister Laurel and her ex-boyfriend Oliver Queen were his biological parents and he was from the future.

Nyssa knew the information she was giving the Red Canary wasn’t easy for anyone to take it but she also knew she had to keep on revealing more secrets to him in order to convince him that he needed to stay with her and her small faction of the league of assassins until they figured out how to fix his killer rage knowing she would force his hand if the information wasn’t enough to make him do the right thing.

“So, my sister from the future is actually my birth mother and her deuchebag cheating ex is going to wind up getting her knocked up which means she takes him back.” Lucas scoffed as he and Nyssa walked through the woods within the island, his power dampening collar still attached to him. “And they have the nerve to say I’m the fool for men.”

“Soon after you are born in the future my father Ra’s Al Ghul kidnaps you and does the unthinkable…he made you the undead child.” Nyssa revealed with a great sense of shame on her face. “When your mother retrieved you, she put you in the past to protect you however a future version of my father eventually figured that out and made contact with my father in the present day.”

“My head is literally spiraling from all of this…I’ve just killed my…grandmother and you want to play a game of who do you think you are with me…how am I meant to believe any of this? What exactly did you father do and why is he so obsessed with me?” Lucas questioned the daughter’s demon, still reeling from Nyssa’s many reveals.

“As you have probably heard about the rumors of the Lazarus Pit many have sought it out to reclaimed a lost one and granted it does grant such acts but it also has some dire consequences…nobody knows this better than my father.” Nyssa admitted to the Red Canary. “My father is over 500 years old using the properties of the Lazarus Pit to sustain his life although each time it’s taken something from him making him less and less human…recently he unearthed a prophecy a little earlier than intended thanks to the future’s manipulation and this prophecy was that of the undead child.”

“You called me the undead child, what exactly did this prophecy say exactly?” Lucas wondered, as he began to believe the truth about his origins slowly, wanting to know more.

“I’m not entirely sure about the fine details of the prophecy but I do know it made the future version of my father want to raise you as his own and the past version want you permanently dead.” Nyssa informed him. “As for what my father does to you in the future when you were just a baby he immersed himself and you within the Lazarus Pit…you died once you came out of the pit very briefly and then you were reborn re-birthing a demon within you at the same time.”

“The Lazarus Pit brings people back to life sometimes just the body and not the soul how the hell is some demon attached to me?” Lucas asked once again, getting frustrated that the answers Nyssa Al Ghul was giving him only served to make him more confused.

“I’m sorry but that’s all the information I can give to you…until we visit limbo but for that I’m going to need you to come back to our Earth.” Nyssa explained to the Red Canary, hoping he was willing to help her with her mission.

“There’s a reason I ditched that world and haven’t exactly been eager to go back!” Lucas snapped at the demon’s daughter. “Under no circumstances am I going back.”

“Mr Lance…I have been more than patient with you even going as far as informing you of a truth everybody else has been keeping from you but let me make one thing clear we will remain on Lian Yu only until my colleagues return and then we’re heading back where we belong.” Nyssa snapped back at him, making it clear she wasn’t asking, she was demanding. “You’re either a threat to my father or an ally and if anyone is going to have you as some kind of weapon then it’s going to be me!”

Nyssa Al Ghul wanted to help Lucas Lance for Sara’s sake but she couldn’t refuse the fact she was curious to find out more about what made the Red Canary so special and knowing her father somewhat feared this undead child made him all the more fascinating.

Nyssa was going to help Lucas as much as she could it just so happened finding out the truth about him may just work to both of their advantages mainly because Nyssa Al Ghul was planning to dethrone her father and take his place.

Laurel Lance was more than grateful for Davina Claire casting a locating spell which revealed that Nyssa Al Ghul and Lucas Lance were on Lian Yu and decided to focus on going there to get him back instead of focusing on the fact that Davina was unable to locate her mother Dinah.

Laurel feared the worst behind Davina’s inability to find her mother Dinah Lance fearing it was confirmation her mother was dead but she had to be a mother right now and put her son first she had to find Lucas and find out why he was on Lian Yu knowing that island wasn’t exactly idealistic for the White Canary or the Green Arrow.

As Laurel packed her rucksack filling it with enough clothes for a round trip to Lian Yu and back within her hotel room in the New York Voyage Hotel, determined to rescue her son she found her quest taking an unexpected turn as a broken Sara walked into the room with tears in her eyes instantly making Laurel realize something terrible had just happened.

“Mum’s gone Laurel…” Sara cried, revealing what she had just learned to her older sister. “That’s what Klaus was hiding from us…that our mother’s gone.”

“I had a feeling that might have been the reason why Davina couldn’t find her, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.” Laurel admitted with tears in her eyes. “I knew this sudden need of his for us to not be enemies was some plot, but I just didn’t want to accept that we’ve lost her again…this time forever…just like dad.”

“Laurel I don’t know how to tell you this…and I really wish I didn’t have to, but it was Lucas who killed our mum.” Sara reluctantly admitted to the Black Canary in between cries, as she struggled to come to terms with her mother’s death.

“No! Sara…he wouldn’t…he couldn’t…” Laurel replied as she attempted to deny the truth while her gut told her otherwise. “Lucas has committed some terrible acts, but he wouldn’t…Klaus must be lying.”

“I think we both know deep down he’s not…not this time.” Sara said as she walked over to her sister and gave her a hug, as the two women cried as they mourned the death of their mother while coming to terms with the truth of how they lost her.

Despite their complicated history Laurel Lance loved her mother deeply and hoped they could reconnect following years apart, but all that hope had just been taken away from her in that moment and with it all hopes for redeeming her son went with them.

Lucas Lance had killed many times and committed some unspeakable and evil acts as the Red Canary but the one line he had never crossed was killing a family member but that line had now been crossed and with it neither the Black Canary or White Canary could deny the fact that Lucas has to be stopped once and for all.

Klaus Mikaelson had found himself filled with guilt over betraying Lucas’ trust knowing it would lead to Laurel and Sara hunting them down in a bid to stop what they believed was a ruthless monster but Klaus knew there was a man within the monster because he had seen it for himself and he knew more than most that one could be both a man and monster for that’s exactly how he saw himself.

He couldn’t help but find himself growing more and more fond of Lucas and it was that fondness that drove the original hybrid to plot to do something he never normally did, clean up his own mess and in order to do that he had to find a way of convincing his siblings to help him stop Laurel and Sara from seeking revenge on Lucas.

“Absolutely bloody not!” Rebekah declared as she stood up from her chair at the dining table within the dining area at the compound, as Elijah, Hayley, Klaus and Kol continued to sit around the table. “I say if the Lance sisters have seen sense and want to kill their bastard brother then we don’t stand in the way.”

“Rebekah…” Elijah began to say.

“Of all the times you paraded me and made me feel foolish for my choice of partners and now you’re literally asking us to help you save some deranged canary whose own siblings want to see him dead.” Rebekah shouted at Klaus, while interrupting Elijah in the process.

“I guess I don’t have to worry about Lucas seeking round two from me then thanks to my brother soaking up my sloppy seconds.” Kol teased Klaus, looking rather amused with himself as the original hybrid rolled his eyes at his younger brother.

“Well I for one agree with Klaus…I can’t believe I’m agreeing with him, but I’d like to stop Laurel from doing something she might regret.” Hayley chimed in, as she stood up to face Rebekah. “She doesn’t deserve to have that on her conscious…nobody does.”

“When exactly did we start caring about Laurel bloody Lance so much?” Rebekah moaned to Hayley, before rolling her eyes and giving in. “I suppose I am somewhat fonder of her than her siblings.”

“I know Sara Lance killed our sister and for that I’ll never forgive her, but Laurel is a good person and this family have done something terrible things to good people maybe it’s time we turn the tables.” Elijah suggested as he too stood up form his chair to face Hayley and Rebekah, noticing Hayley smiling at his wise words, making him smile back at his former love.

“I’m in but mostly because I want to see it all go down, I can’t promise I’ll stop anything.” Kol somewhat agreed as he and Klaus stood up at the same time, all siblings now standing face to face with Hayley.

“Before we go into this canary filled battlefield there’s something about Laurel and Lucas that I should tell you all about.” Elijah revealed to the rest of them, instantly catching the awkward look on Klaus’ face which revealed his younger brother knew what Elijah was about to say next. “Laurel is Lucas’ mother.”

It was revelation both Klaus and Elijah had already discovered however until now Rebekah, Kol and Hayley had remained in the dark and now they had found out it had made them even more determined to do the right thing by the Lance’s for the first time after all Rebekah and Kol knew just as well as Klaus and Elijah what it was like to have their mother try to murder them and didn’t wish that on anyone.

Despite their protests and the bad blood between the Mikaelson’s and the Lance’s the two families were slowly beginning to grow more and more fonder of each other even if none of them would ever admit it.

[tisfan]

Ad-vengers in Babysitting

for @ifdragonscouldtalk ‘s challenge, Avenging comes in Small Packages.

“Hey, platypus,” Tony said, mock cheerfully. “You busy? I could use some backup here.”

Rhodey could always tell when Tony was fronting. It was a skill that Rhodey had developed out of sheer self-defense. “I’m not currently on duty,” he said, carefully. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong, sour patch? Why would anything be wrong?”

“Aside from the use of the word backup, and also, the alarmingly there’s-nothing-wrong-here voice you’re using. Don’t bullshit me, Tones, just tell me what it is.”

“I… might need you to track down a bad guy for me and smack him around a little until he gives you his magic hourglass.”

“Uh… you might want to start at the beginning? And like, should I be taking notes, and where the hell is the rest of your actual team?”

“Right here, sugarlump,” Tony said. “They’re… uh… All about four to seven years old.”

“Okay, on my way,” Rhodey said. He shook his head and twisted the grey chased black bracelet that he wore all the time, even though it was against a dozen uniform violations. His suit was not -- and would never be -- as cool and responsive as the Iron Man armor, but that was because he couldn’t afford to be down on Tony’s lab every single day and letting Tony fuck with it. (Also, Rhodey had no intentions of going through the nanobot injections, he’d seen the scars Tony had from that, and no thank you.)

But the bracelet would notify his armor that he was on the way -- even with the prosthetics that Tony had rigged up for him, Rhodey just wasn’t as fast as he used to be -- and get everything ready.

“Stay in the suit,” Tony cautioned him. “This de-aging dust is pernicious.”

“Yeah? So how old are you right now?”

“‘Bout thirty, ish. Hard to tell, really,” Tony said. “I’m in the suit, which doesn’t exactly come with a rear-view mirror for me to admire my makeup in.”

“You put the suit on and it kept this from happening?”

“Well, I popped the faceplate and he got me with a little bit of the dust, so I think the sealed environment keeps it out.” Tony said. “I’m leaving the suit on because Bruce has temper tantrums and a five year old Hulk is destructive as shit. Just sayin’, kid’s got some anger management issues. And let me tell you, I need serious therapy for smacking a five year old around, even if he was a Hulk. Well, mostly I just sat on him, but still. This is not enhancing my calm at all.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not what they mean by babysitting, Tony,” Rhodey said. He stripped out of his jacket, tie, and regulation shoes before letting War Machine close up around him. Ah, he loved being in the armor. Even after the fall, he still felt safe inside… like, if he died in the armor, it would be the best possible death.

“Boot me up, baby,” he told the suit as he stepped in.

“Good morning, Colonel Rhodes,” ROXY said, her voice fond. She was still a little stiff, not quite as expressive as Friday, or as JARVIS had been, but Rhodey loved her, too.

(more below the cut)

“Okay,” he said as soon as he kicked off from the ground. “Give me the sitrep.” He got a brief look at Tony in the HUD, face at least a decade younger, the lines eased around his eyes. Then someone -- probably FRIDAY, because Tony’s girl just had that sort of sense of humor -- gave Rhodey a pulled back shot from a security camera.

Iron Man was sitting awkwardly, metal legs in a criss-cross pattern, holding a tiny little tea cup in one enormous metal gauntlet. A princess tiara was perched precariously on top of the helmet and a fluttery, purple glitter cloak was thrown around his neck.

“Aren’t you precious?” Rhodey chirped, delighted. “Oh my god, I totally want like full-color photos of this. I might even get one of those life-sized cardboard cutouts, Mrs. Nesbit.”

“God, you’re an asshole,” Tony said.

“You need me,” Rhodey sing-songed. “So, tell me about this villain.”

“Um, totally cliche bullshit type of guy,” Tony said, and the HUD threw up several pictures of a skinny dude in a yellow spandex suit that looked homemade, along with a blue, shimmery cloak. He was carrying an hourglass that was almost two feet tall and probably weighed at least fifty pounds, based on the way Mr. Skinny was bowed over. “Calls himself Chronos.”

“Like the greek god of Time?”

“Linear time, at least,” Tony said. “Could be. He looked more like he was going for the Piers Anthony novel character. Anyway, he threw a handful of this dust out of that hourglass at Cap. We didn’t even realize anything was wrong for a while. Cap delivered the beat down on the guy’s minions--”

“He has minions?”

“Well, he did,” Tony said. “Cap busted ‘em up pretty good.”

“And you guys are all safe?”

“Relatively,” Tony said. “As long as I keep drinking tea, Nat’s happy, and if she’s happy, then Bruce is staying mostly not-green. I haven’t seen Clint in a while, and that’s worrisome even when he’s a grown up. Steve’s drawing pictures on the walls, that’s probably permanent marker -- oh, no, Cap, come on, can we keep the sketches to the walls and not on Thor?”

“Thor’s a baby, too?”

“Yeah, it’s both adorable and weirdly concerning,” Tony reported, “because he can still lift that stupid hammer of his. I swear, it’s a fingerprint, or DNA coded or something, because there is no way in the world that some three year old with a questionable vocabulary and the drinking habits of Howard Stark is worthy.”

“Baby Thor is swearing?”

“No, he’s threatening to wreak havoc,” Tony said. “Blood-thirsty little tyrant. I’ve got him snipe-hunting, at the moment, to prove his prowess.”

“You didn’t.”

“Oh, you bet your shiny metal ass I did,” Tony said. “Also, Wanda and Viz are missing, also worrisome, so, reinforcements on the babysitting end would be good, too.”

“Yeah, gonna give the baby avenger nanny job a miss. So, uh, what do you want me to do about the villain?” Rhodey asked. He checked his surroundings; damn he loved being able to just leave the driving to his AI, that was so handy. He knew Tony had sometimes used travel time to actually sleep, which was a little more than Rhodey wanted to do, but it was convenient to not have to worry about deployment.

“Find him, take the hourglass away from him, and go badger Strange into doing the bibbity bobbity boo schtick,” Tony said. “Wait, Nat, honey, can you get down from there, sweetie? Come on, just… yeah, there we go. What did I say about climbing on the furniture?”

“You think this is magic?”

“It sure as fuck isn’t science,” Tony said.

“Mis’er Tony,” a piping voice said, and the kids were all so young that Rhodey had no chance of identifying which one it was, “waz fuck mean?”

“Better wash your mouth out, Mr. Tony,” Rhodey said, in all seriousness. “You’ve got impressionable children around you.”

“Bite me, sugarbear,” Tony said. “Fuck is a bad word, and you shouldn’t say it where your Uncle Rhodey can hear you.”

“All right, Tones,” Rhodey reported. “I’m eleven minutes out. Don’t let the Spy Kids get you down.”

“Just hurry up,” Tony pleaded. “My rates for babysitting go up if I have to feed them.”

“Look at it this way,” Rhodey said, “at least none of them are in diapers, still.”

“Remind me when all this is over and I’ll tell you about Captain America and the Winter Soldier flooding the bathroom by trying to rescue one of the toys they ‘accidentally’ flushed down the toilet,” Tony grumbled.

Rhodey laughed. “You can’t say you don’t deserve this,” he said.

“I absolutely do not deserve-- stop laughing at me, honeybear,” Tony complained. “Ack, gotta run, Clint’s climbing up shit again.”

Rhodey grinned. “Record all this for me, Friday, you sweet thing, you,” he said.

“Already on it,” Friday reported.

“Good girl.”

“It’s not very often that the B-listers get to save the day,” Sam said. He’d been doing his thing down at the VA when the assemble call came in and decided that the team could handle it. Sometimes, comforting vets who were suffering from PTSD was way more important than busting up some third-rate knock off villain.

Apparently this had not been that time.

“I hardly consider myself a B-lister,” Dr. Strange said. He was doing that annoying, floating thing again, the damn showoff.

“It’s okay, man,” Sam told him, nudging Strange with his shoulder. “You’ll get your time to shine. I mean, you’re not quite as handsome as me, but you’ll make a really cute doll.”

The cloak that Strange always wore shoved Sam away. Sam had never been able to figure out if that cloak responded to Strange’s thoughts or if it had some sort of agenda of its own, but it hovered around the man like a velvet attack dog, and Sam had seen it do some pretty nifty tricks that a fancy bit of flannel should not manage.

“Your thinly disguised jealousy is an ugly thing, Mr. Wilson,” Strange said.

“What are we doing again, here, banter?” War Machine thudded across the street and dropped another one of the time-lord’s minions into the pile. “Also, they’re called action figures, Wilson,” Rhodes commented, turning his War Machine mask in Sam’s direction, which always made Sam a little nervous. It wasn’t Sam’s fault, exactly, that War Machine had taken a bad hit in the airport battle, but it kinda was, and guilt was a slippery subject.

 “Just thought you needed a new story for the parties, Colonel,” Sam said. “The one with the tank is getting old.”

“This one begins to show some signs of regaining consciousness,” Strange said, and he did that weird… thing with his hands; glowing golden runes in moving, twisting circles appeared. The minion was wrenched to his feet by invisible hands. “Will it help if I threaten you first, or would you just like to tell us where we might find your boss?”

“Oh, just turn him inside out as an example for the rest of these assholes,” Rhodes suggested. “I’m tired, I’m bored, and I didn’t get coffee this morning, before Tony rousted me to come deal with his cleanup issues.”

Sam was pretty sure that War Machine without coffee was more terrifying than Strange, but each to their own.

The minion, on the other hand, just looked stubborn.

“They’re all a bunch of stupids,” a tiny little voice said.

Sam whirled around so fast he almost got whiplash. “Oh, hell no, what… no, no, this is not… Vision, what the-- how are you even a kid?”

Vision, a tiny purple toddler, was floating nearby. He was holding hands with an equally tiny Wanda Maximoff. “A question that concerns me as well. But it has, it seems, happened, and we must deal with it. Wanda and I have located Chronos, if we might be of some assistance.”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know y’all ain’t supposed to be out running around when you’re toddlers, right?”

“Hey, Tones,” War Machine was already on the communicator with Stark, which was just as well, because Sam didn’t want to deal with telling an already stressed out Iron Man that they’d found two runaway mini-vengers. “We found your runaways. Flying preschoolers are hard to keep a hold of, I get it, man, I do, but…”

“Chronos left behind a unique radiation and trans dimensional signature. Between Wanda and I, we were able to follow it.”

Strange flicked his fingers in one of those convoluted patterns; he always looked more stiff and formal than Wanda, whose magic danced from knuckle to knuckle like she was listening to her own personal rave. Sam couldn’t always tell if that was a result of Strange’s injuries, or differences in their training, or something else entirely.

Lines of shimmering blue symbols extended from Strange’s hands and circled the two children, coiling around until--

“Leashes?” Sam blurted. “You made magical mommy leashes?”

“It seemed, somehow, appropriate, given the circumstances,” Strange said. “After all, toddlers are trouble on the best of days, and magical, flying toddlers likely to be more taxing than most.” He looped the glowing runes around his wrist. “This way, we should be able to keep track of them, at least.”

The two flying kids looked like surreal helium balloons more than anything else, but working together, Wanda and Vision managed a spell that drew a brilliant yellow, crackling line between the mind stone in the middle of Vision’s forehead all the way to wherever Chronos was.

“I gotta say, that’s a neat trick,” Sam commented. He kicked off from the ground to scout ahead. “Even if if looks like something out of a damn video game.”

“It is the traces of his effects on us that Wanda’s spell is able to detect, pointing in the direction of the source,” Vision said. He was always a bit pompous, sounding like Tony’s old AI, which in turn supposedly sounded like the Stark’s old butler, but hearing that voice and those tones from a tiny little purple gummy bear of a kid was super disconcerting.

The line was as the crow -- or, in this case, the Falcon -- flies, so Sam zipped along the line, hoping the guy hadn’t done something like gotten on an airplane in the meanwhile. “I don’t suppose you can tie them up outside on the corner lamppost or something, while we bash some baddies?”

“Mr. Wilson, that would be very irresponsible,” Strange said. “Maybe we should leave them in your tender care while the colonel and I deal with the situation.”

“No, I ain’t drawing straws to see who stays the kids,” Sam said. “I got nieces and nephews and I have done just as much uncle-duty babysitting as is mandated by the state of New York--”

“Perfectly qualified, great, thank you for volunteering,” Strange said.

“Man, shut the hell up.”

But, of course, he got stuck with watching after Viz and Wanda while Strange and War Machine went inside to kick ass. Taking names was optional; he’d heard a rumor that Strange had taken one man’s name permanently -- like the dude never remembered his name again. Even nicknames. It was weird and scary and petty as hell, but it did make one a little leary about going up against the Sorcerer Supreme.

Chronos didn’t seem to have gotten that memo, so Sam was stuck outside, entertaining two highly dangerous, low on patience, kidlets. The usual things that Sam did to keep his sister’s kids out of trouble did not go over well with Viz -- being a synthoid apparently kept playing video games on Sam’s smartphone from being quality entertainment.

“A’ight now, Wanda, is that a real tiger there, or are you puttin’ a whammy on me, because I don’t appreciate no whammies,” Sam said. He was pretty sure it wasn’t an actual tiger, like escaped from the zoo sort of critter, but it was entirely possible that Wanda had gotten bored and decided to import a tiger. Or grow one from an alley cat.

“Put that thing back where it came from, or so help me--” Viz started, and then they were both singing that stupid song from Monsters, Inc.

“It’s a work in progress,” Sam muttered as the tiger disappeared in a puff of scarlet mist. “Why is it that you even know Sully and Mike, Viz? I didn’t think you were big into cartoons.” He pressed one hand over his chest, willing himself to calm. Down. No tigers. There were no tigers here, damn it.

“I do have access to my… former self’s memory stores,” Viz explained. “And Mr. Stark was particularly fond of showing a wide variety cinema to Captain Rogers.”

Movie nights. Sam sighed. It’d been a while since the Avengers had had movie night. “Huh. Do you like that sort of thing? Like, when you’re a full sized synthoid and not a pint sized technological terror?”

“I am fond of popcorn,” Viz said, thoughtfully. “And hearing the thoughts of my companions about the movies, although I find most cinema to be… less than engaging.”

“Popcorn, popcorn, popcorn!” Wanda bellowed. She jumped up onto Viz’s back, wrapping her arms around his throat. “Gimme a biggy pack ride!”

“I’m quite certain what you meant was a piggy back ride,” Viz corrected her, gently, which was probably just a bad move, because no one appreciated that shit. And yeah, there went Wanda sticking her tongue in his ear and blowing a loud, wet raspberry.

“I know what I said!”

“That was truly unnecessary,” Viz complained, but nonetheless, he hooked his hands under Wanda’s knees and trotted her around in a circle. Which worked great as a distraction right up until Strange’s magical leashes got all tangled up around Sam, and the three of them ended up stuck together like the world’s most awkward slinky.

On the plus side, War Machine came out a few minutes later, carrying a huge hourglass. He turned it over, opened the -- Sam assumed, bottom -- and sprinkled a little bit of dust on each of the kids, like some sort of metal Tinkerbelle.

“Hey, watch it with that stuff,” Sam protested. “Don’t need to be any older than I already am.”

“With age comes wisdom,” Rhodey said.

“Yeah, I’m good man. Wise enough, thanks.”

There was no possible way that the War Machine’s faceplate could indicate sarcasm.

It did anyway.

Tony was sleeping.

Steve, probably the oldest of the de-aged Avengers, was playing an entirely age-inappropriate video game on the playstation while the Winter Soldier was poking someone’s smart phone, looking up cheat codes and walkthroughs. Apparently kid-savvy with tech outweighed both of their “I was an adult in the 30s, don’t expect me to care about your smartphone” stubbornness. Or, as Rhodey had often thought, privately, they were both perfectly fine with tech, the two of them just liked yanking Tony’s chain. A hobby that, most of the time, Rhodey could get behind.

On one side of Tony was curled a just-barely toddler Thor, Mjolnir in his arms like a teddy bear.  

Peter Parker was the only infant, but still apparently sticky as velcro; he was clinging to the front of the Iron Man’s suit, napping, thumb shoved firmly in his mouth. There was drool dripping down his chin and onto the suit.

Black Widow was still having a tea party and had managed to talk Clint into wearing a purple princess dress and glitter flats and drink pretend tea out of little plastic cups while discussing the neighbor’s begonias. Hulk was a great, green toddler, nearly as tall as Tony was as an adult, but he was sitting, criss-cross, on the floor at Tony’s feet, petting a cat.

Where the hell had they gotten a cat from? Rhodey didn’t know if he wanted to know.

“KITTY,” Hulk bellowed, softly, as Rhodey tiptoed around the sleeping and resting avengerlettes.

“Yeah, I see that,” Rhodey said. “Hope Bruce likes cats.”

“PUNY BANNER LIKE KITTY!”

“Yeah, okay, so we have a Compound pet,” Sam said. “I’ll have Friday put in an order for litter and food. Or something.”

“Hey, Tones,” Rhodey said, shaking his shoulder gently. “Come on, wakey wakey, old man, time to give your kids back.”

Iron Man very gently wrapped one armor-clad arm around the sleeping Parker. “Shut up, sour patch. I just got them napping. ‘S everything okay?”

“Well, aside from the World War Twosome traumatizing themselves by playing Outlast 2,” Rhodey said, “we have a cure. And the baddie’s on his way to prison. And Strange is trying to figure out how to get the hourglass back to the person it belongs to, more power to him.”

“A cure,” Tony said. The facemask peeled back and a somewhat less aged Tony looked up at him. “Almost sorry to hear that. These kids are a lot of work, but--” he stared down at Peter, then smiled, a little dopey and sad. “I kinda like it.” Tony shifted a little until Thor was sleeping on the floor, still curled around his hammer.

“Yeah, thought you might,” Rhodey said. “You’ve always been Team Dad.”

Wanda was sprinkling the re-aging dust on various Avengers. Steve and Bucky suddenly growing back into their adult selves did not seem to keep them from fighting over the PS4 controller like rowdy teenagers.

“It was just… you know… nice,” Tony said.

Rhodey glanced around. “Kinda thought you might think that.” He handed Tony a pair of little ziplock baggies. “Save it for a special occasion.”

Tony’s eyebrows went way up.

“Just sayin’, Tones,” Rhodey said, “that it might be nice to spend an afternoon as kids again, don’t you think?”

Tony’s eyes softened. “Oh, yeah. Absolutely!”

[artlessictoan]

May I request some yodochou

dear nonny, you may aLWAYS request yodochou!

(femslash feb requestsopen all month!)

—

YodoChou - Concert

—

Chouchou frowned as she studied her reflection, twisting andspinning and still not finding what she was looking for.

It might’ve helped if she’d actually known what that was exactly, but,unfortunately, she’d been relying on instinct to guide her. Instincts sheapparently didn’t possess.

Groaning, she stopped trying to twist her neck a fullone-hundred and eighty degrees to see her back, instead flopping down on herbed face-first. She had to move just a few seconds later, sitting upright sothat the multitude of metal spikes decorating her leather jacket would stopdigging into her skin.

Needless to say, her ‘punk’ experiment was a resoundingfailure.

She couldn’t see how anyonecould find this comfortable… well, anyone except Yodo, who had presumably emergedfrom the womb with steel-toe boots already clad, kicking in the teeth of thepoor bastard delivering her.

Chouchou stared at the reflection before her, of a woeful girldressed in ill-fitting leather, denim that was more hole than fabric and tackyfishnet sleeves and tights, draped in enough metal chains and spikes that shecould probably make herself a serviceable suit of armour, who couldn’t lookmore out-of-place and uncomfortable if she tried. There was entirely too muchblack in this outfit, had punks never heard of accent colours? And how the fuckwas it that all the things that made her heart pound and cheeks burn when hercrush wore them, just made her look like an angsty teenager trying way too hard to piss of her parents.

This was the last time she went to Inojin for advice.

She would’ve spent even longer wallowing in misery, had herphone not chosen that moment to go off. Not bothering to tear her gaze awayfrom her miserable reflection, she blindly swatted the bed behind her until herhand closed around hard plastic and brought the mobile to her face, frowning atthe way the movement the half-dozen chains hanging from her sleeves jangle andclink.

“Yeah?”

“Hey girl-” Yodo’s scratchy voice immediately brought asmile to her face “-you sound fuckin’ dismal, not to worry though, I’m here nowto wash all your worries away! So hurry up and lemme in.”

Immediately jumping to her feet, she was almost out the doorbefore the rattling of metal stopped her in her tracks. Chouchou glanced backat her mirror, grimacing at the state she was in. “Actually… now’s not a greattime, maybe come back in like, fifteen minutes?”

“Whaaaat, no way! C’mon it’s freezing out here and it’d take me more than that just to walkhome.”

She toyed with the hem of her frayed t-shirt, wondering iffacing her best friend’s wrath would be better or worse than her hystericallaughter. “Then get me some sweets from the shop?”

“Hell no!”

“I’ll pay you back,” she rushed to say, already fighting toshrug off the jacket, but only succeeding in getting her arm caught in one ofthe many unnecessary straps hanging from it, “just gimme ten minutes to change…”The faint rip as she struggled against fabric almost made her want to scream.

And the slam of a heavy door made her want to cry.

“Too late-” Yodo’s voice now came from inside the house,slightly muffled by walls and doors, with an unsettling echo from the phone “-alreadypicked the lock, thought I told ya to get a deadbolt?” The footsteps creepingever closer had Chouchou panicking as she tried to both shed the goddamned jacket and lean against the doorat the same time. “Hey, you listenin’ to me? You better say if you’re nakedright no-” the door swung open, but came to a jarring halt as it collided withher back “-the fuck? Really?”

Chouchou shoved it back, though the resistance from theother side was extreme. “I told you not to come in!”

“An’ I ignored you.” Another shove, she had to drop herphone to fight it. “What’s wrong with you today?” She grunted as Yodo made afull-body slam against the door. “I’ve got two brothers, you ain’t winnin’ thisbattle.”

“Don’t care, just go sit in the kitchen while I get dressed!”

There was a long pause, though the pressure against her didn’tlet up for a second, before she heard a sigh and the crackling of plastic. Shewas just about to try for another push when a skinny hand slipped through thecrack between the door and its frame, handles of a plastic bag coming with it,though the main bulk of it remained trapped behind the door. “I already boughtsweets on my way here…”

She stared hard at the bag, mind rushing with all possibleoutcomes. “What kind?” Chouchou muttered, mentally cursing her unquenchableappetite.

“Gummies and chocolate raisins for you, sugar almonds and sourcandy for me.”

Her head made a heavy clunk as she slammed it back againstthe wood. “Ok, fine, but you’re notallowed to laugh, got it?”

“Yup, now lemme in!” Yodo shouted, already pushing againstthe door again.

Shaking her head, Chouchou carefully stepped back, catchingit before it could slam into her dresser. Her crush stumbled slightly, but wasquick to regain her footing and give her an intense up-and-down. She tried notto fidget under those hard, green eyes, instead focusing on Yodo’s expression,trying to gauge her reactions before the inevitable laughter.

The expected widening of eyes, her mouth dropping into atiny ‘o’ for a few seconds, before her lips pulled back as she tried – and failed– to conceal a smirk, a tiny shaking of shoulders and faint snort.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she snatched the bag fromYodo’s slack grip, collapsing back onto her bed, before remembering why thatwas a terrible idea and dragging herself back up. “I told you not to laugh.”

“I ain’t laughing!” she said, utterly failing to sound likeshe wasn’t laughing.

“You’re a terrible liar,” Chouchou mumbled, digging for hersweets in crinkling plastic, “just thought I’d try and get into the spirit ofthings for the concert, but clearly punk is notmy style.” She didn’t bother to mention that she’d also hoped that maybeappealing to her secret crush’s taste in fashion might get her to see her in anew, more alluring, light.

Yodo finally released the laugh that she’d been holding back,but surprisingly it was more of a chuckle than the howling cackle she’d beenexpecting. The blonde jumped next to her, playfully shoving their shoulderstogether. “C’mon, it ain’t that bad, you’ve kinda got the right ide-”

Her words cut off suddenly, leaning back to study her a littlecloser; Chouchou chewed on a gummy snake and raised a brow.

“Actually,” Yodo said, leaping up and marching over to herfriend’s wardrobe, “Let’s see, no, no…”

Watching the short woman as she rifled though her things, noteven bothering to complain when she started throwing tops to the floor as shesearched – her dad had been trying to train her out of her messiness for over adecade with little success, Chouchou wasn’t even going to bother – just casuallyworking through her treats, wondering why the fuck she found that scrawny assso attractive.

Finally, she seemed to have found what she was after,throwing a t-shirt and skirt over her head. “’ere, change into this, keep thetights and boots though.”

Rolling her eyes, she escaped from the fabric and startedshuffling out of the distressed skinny jeans she had on. She didn’t worry aboutbeing watched, as her friend had already flopped down on the mattress and wasentertaining herself with her sugared almonds, besides, she wouldn’t reallymind if she did want to look…

The next twenty minutes was a flurry of changing tops until Yodowas satisfied, then she was ordered to sit still as she worked on her makeupand hair, singing along to her favourite rock playlist the whole time.

When she was finally allowed to look at herself again, she’dbeen completely transformed.

She stared for a long moment, then walked right up to themirror as though that would somehow make her reflection change to what she actually looked like, because there wasno way she could ever look so… badass.

“Oh.” She stepped back again, just to properly admire theway that her skirt – the long velvet one she’d never found an excuse toactually wear before – hugged her hips, the high slit revealing a long, toned,fishnet-clad leg, how her bright, jewel green crop top showed off a generousamount of skin, and added a splash of colour under the jacket she’d so hated justhalf an hour ago – though the fact that her friend had somehow managed toremove half the needless metal from it probably had something to do with that. “I…look fucking hardcore, damn girl, underall the studs and eyeliner you’re actually a total fashionista, aren’t cha?”

There was no reply.

Glancing over her shoulder, she was about to say something,but the way her crush was staring at her, jaw hanging open, eyes unfocused andcheeks definitely darker than usual stoppedher dead.

Yodo, upon realising that she was being spoken too, finally managedto unfreeze. “Uhh… oh! Shit! We’re gonna miss the show if we don’t get goin’! C’monlazy-butt, race ya!” She fled the room like she would flee from the scene ofher pranks, rather pointedly not looking back at her.

She couldn’t have stopped the wide grin stretching acrossplum-painted lips if she’d tried. Maybe Inojin knew what he was talking aboutafter all…

—

[softspideys]

Tech Support (Peter Parker x reader)

summary: when your computer crashes at four a.m., there’s only one person who can save you: the IT guy

warnings: none

prompt: “my computer crashed and you’re the student worker at the IT center” from this prompt list 

pairings: peter parker x reader

words: 1.8k

a/n: you KNOW peter would be the cutest IT guy at his college

You pressed your phone to your ear with shaking hands, listening to it ring and willing for someone, anyone to answer.

“Tech Support, how can I help you?” a pleasant male voice said. You almost burst into tears at the sound of it.

“Hi, I was just calling to see if you guys were still open.”

“Yes, we’re open 24/7,” the boy said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Um—” You glanced at your laptop, which had been working just fine until about three minutes ago. “My laptop. It, um, it just . . . stopped working. Crashed, I think? The screen just went . . .  black.”

“Hmm,” the boy said. “Did you try charging it?”

“Yes, and it was on 100% when it died anyway.”

“And you tried turning it off and on?”

“Yes,” you said impatiently. Honestly, what was the point of these IT people if they weren’t going to give you any helpful advice?

“Hmm,” the boy said again, and it only infuriated you even more. “That’s odd. I’m not sure how much help I can provide to you over the phone, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“It sounds like we’re gonna have to take a look at and see what we can do. Can you bring it over in the morning?”

“In the morning?” you repeated faintly. “But — but I need it fixed now!”

“I understand,” the boy said, “but we —”

“Please,” you cut him off. “I know you probably hear that all the time but I really, really need it fixed. This is like, a Code Red emergency, okay, please. Please.” You were practically on the verge of tears, which would be more embarrassing if you weren’t going through your current crisis.

There was a long pause, and just as you were about to hang up and jump out of the dorm window, the boy finally said, “Can you bring it to the IT Center? First floor of the library?”

“Right now?” You couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah. You need it fixed, don’t you?”

“Yes,” you said quickly. “Yes, yeah, yes, I can definitely do that. Um, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Thank you so much.”

You hung up and quickly put on your shoes and a jacket, shoving your laptop into your backpack and exiting the study lounge in your dorm, where you’d been working on an essay for the past five hours. You went into the library and headed to the student-run IT Desk. You’d never been there, but it was easy to find, considering the boy sitting there was the only other person in the library.

He had his back to you, watching what appeared to be Star Trek on his laptop. An extra-large coffee sat beside him. You cleared your throat and he turned around.

Your heart almost stopped. This wasn’t the stereotypical geeky, bespectacled, IT nerd you saw on TV. This boy was cute. He looked to be your age, with curly dark hair and pretty brown eyes. And of course he had to be the one to witness your breakdown via phone. Of course.

“Oh, hey,” he said, pausing the show. “Are you the girl who just called?”

You nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“Cool. Got your laptop?”

“Yeah.” You pulled it out of your backpack and handed it to him.

“Awesome. Let’s see what we got,” he said, his voice weirdly upbeat considering it was the middle of the night. He opened it and began to punch the keys, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.

You didn’t want to watch him, so you glanced around the library. “Is it just you here?” you asked awkwardly.

“Yup,” the boy said, not looking up from your screen.

“What do you do when more than one person needs help?”

“We just do phone help at this time of night,” he explained. “If it’s something that can’t be fixed over the phone, then we just have them bring it in the morning.”

“But . . . why’d you let me come in now?” Not that you were complaining. You were just confused.

“You said it was a Code Red,” he answered with a shrug, like it was that simple.

“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess it is.”

“Can I ask what kind of Code Red situation happens at four in the morning? Also, why are you awake at four in the morning?”

“Uh, well . . . I was typing an essay that’s due at eight and I was ten pages in when my computer just . . . crashed. And it’s such a huge part of my grade and I worked so hard on it and if I get a zero I could fail the class and then it could lower my GPA and I could lose my scholarship —” You paused, suddenly aware of your rambling and how close to crying you were again. “I just really need it fixed.”

The boy had stopped typing and was looking at you sympathetically. “I get it,” he said. “I’ll fix it, don’t worry.”

“Thank you,” you said gratefully.

“What’s your name, by the way?”

“Y/N.”

“Cool. I’m Peter.”

“Hi, Peter.” And now your hero had a name. “So, uh, how’d you get stuck with the graveyard shift? Did you guys draw straws or something?”

He laughed. “No. The new guy always gets stuck with the late shifts. It’s fine, though. I got my Dunkin, got my Star Trek, and there’s only been one call so far.” He grinned at you and you blushed.

“Have you always been good with computers?” you asked. You were afraid that you’d be disrupting his work with your constant questioning, something you tended to do when you were nervous, but he didn’t seem bothered.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said. “I used to like building ‘em when I was in high school.”

“Building them?” you said incredulously. “Holy shit, you must be some type of super genius.”

Now it was his turn to blush. “God, no. Definitely not. I just like messing with them, and I’m majoring in Computer Science here anyway, so I figured why not get a job that will let me mess with other people’s computers and help them out?”

“Well, I’m really glad you did,” you said sincerely. “You’re seriously like my hero right now.”

He smiled shyly, lifting his eyes from your screen to look at you. “It’s what I’m here for.”

The two of you fell silent as he continued to work and you had a small but heated internal battle with yourself. He was cute, really cute. And friendly. And he was helping you in person rather than over the phone or having you bring it in the morning. But maybe this was just good customer service. You forced yourself to snap out of it.

You were startled from your thoughts when your computer screen lit up and turned on. “Oh my God,” you said in awe. “You did it.”

“Almost,” Peter said. “Let’s see if we can get your essay back.” You felt your stomach drop as he clicked around. If you couldn’t recover your paper, then the laptop might as well just stay dead. There was no point.

Several agonizing minutes went by before Peter grinned and said, “Aha! I got it.”

“You — you did?” you asked faintly, your heart hammering against your chest.

“Uh-huh. I mean, did you have ten pages written when it crashed?” You nodded, and he said triumphantly, “Then yeah, I got it. It’s all here. You won’t get a zero.”

You watched wordlessly as he saved your essay multiple times (“Just to be safe,”) before closing your laptop and sliding it over to you. “There you go,” he said cheerfully.

“I — I can’t believe you did that,” you said. The feeling of relief that was washing over you currently was indescribable. Your essay was safe, and so was your grade, all because of this boy.

He smiled and shrugged. “It’s nothing, really. Just doin’ my job.”

“Oh my God,” you said again. “I — thank you. Thank you so much. What do I owe you?” You were ready to give him a million dollars if that’s what he asked for.

But he shook his head. “Nothing. It’s free.”

“Come on —”

“No, I’m serious! It’s free for everyone, not just ‘cause I like you,” he said, and your stomach jumped at the word like.

“There has to be something I can do for you,” you wheedled. “You saved my life tonight, dude. Seriously.”

Peter pretended to think. “Well, you could go out on a date with me.”  His confidence wavered a little as he looked at you. “I mean, if you want.” 

You laughed. “Of course I want to go on a date with you.” 

“Oh. Well, uh, in that case, can I have your number?” he asked. You nodded, and he typed it into his phone before sending you a text so you’d have his too.

“I guess I’d better go finish my paper and find a printer,” you said with a sigh. You really didn’t want to leave, but this stupid essay was your top priority.

“Oh,” Peter seemed crestfallen, but tried to save face. “Okay. Well, I’ll text you.”

You nodded and turned to walk away, but something in your stomach was telling you not to. Things like this didn’t happen that often to you. It was now or never. You bit your lip before you faced him again. “You know,” you said casually. “It’s actually a lot quieter here. Makes it much easier to concentrate.”

Peter looked at you for a second before a slow smile grew on his face. “You can print for free here too,” he added.

“True,” you said. “Plus I kinda like the guy behind the IT desk.”

He laughed. “That’s funny, because I kinda like the girl who crashed her laptop at four in the morning.”

You grinned and came around to the other side of the desk, sitting in the empty chair next to him. Peter resumed his Star Trek as you went back to your essay. Even after you’d finished it and printed it out, the two of you stayed there, sharing his headphones and watching Netflix. 

As you accepted the munchkin he offered you, you reflected on how crazy the night had been. You never thought you’d ever be grateful to have your stupid computer crash.

[lastsonlost]

The Ultimate Differential Theory of US Armed Forces (Snake Model)

I don’t know the first thing about the military but this is made laugh my ass off.

Upon encountering a snake in the Area of Operations (AO)...

Airborne: Lands on and kills the snake.

USAF O-6 and above: "Get that damned snake off the fairway!"

Armor: Runs over snake. Never knows it,as well as where the tank and the snake is on the battlefield. Continues directly ahead wondering what all those new buttons in his turret do.

Army Aviation: Has GPS ten digit grid to snake. Stands off at a range greater than any other weapon system and destroys snake with precision fires at a cost equivalent of one Mercedes 350SEL. Returns to base for fighter management and a "cool one".

Army Shrink: Attempts to get snake to explain its sexual feelings about its mother.  

Army Chaplain: Tries to get snake to attend services, mend its ways.

USAF Combat Controllers: Guides snake elsewhere.

Combat Engineer: Studies snake. Prepares in depth analysis based on obscure 5 series FM about how to defeat snake using counter mobility assets. Complains that maneuver forces don't understand how to properly conduct doctrinal counter-snake operations. (Engineer School tries to hide the fact that M9 ACE proves ineffective against snakes).

Field Artillery: Kills snake with massive Time On Target barrage with three Forward Artillery Brigades in support. Kills several hundred civilians as unavoidable collateral damage. Mission is considered a success and all participants (i.e., cooks, mechanics and clerks) are awarded Silver Stars.

Infantry: Snake smells them, leaves area.

Military Intelligence, G-2: Snake? What snake? Only four of 35 indicators of snake activity are currently active. We assess the potential for snake activity as LOW.

Judge Advocate General (JAG): Snake declines to bite, citing professional courtesy.

Force Recon: Follows snake, gets lost.

USMC Infantry: Kills snake by accident while looking for souvenirs. Local civilians demand removal of all US forces from Area of Operations.

Army Mech Infantry: Runs over snake, laughs, and looks for more snakes.

Military Intelligence, S-2: Reports to ground troops that snake is a non-combatant. Six Infantry wounded. MI states that if the ground forces would have read the nesting diagram provided in the 24 page enemy intel report, they would have known the snake was a possible threat.

Military Police, Criminal Investigation: Handcuffs snake's head to its tail, reads it its Miranda rights, then proceeds to beat snake to a pulp with night stick.

USAF Missileers: Lays in target coordinates to snake in 20 seconds, but can't receive authorization from National Command Authority to use nuclear weapons.

Military Police, Field: Snake safely infiltrates rear area of operations.

Navy SeaBees: Build snake elaborate rec room, complete with secret still.

Navy SEAL: Expends all ammunition and several grenades, then calls for naval gunfire in failed attempt to kill snake. Snake bites the SEAL, and dies of salt water poisoning. Hollywood makes film in which SEALS kill Muslim extremist snakes.

Navy, Surface Action Group: Fires off 50 cruise missiles fro several ships, kills snake and makes presentation to Senate Appropriations Committee on how Naval forces are the most cost-effective means of anti-snake force projection.

Ordnance: IDs snake as having improper scales. Deadline snake and order parts against snake. Parts come in 15 days later but the snake has been upgraded to FMC due to scrounging of parts through improper channels.

USAF Para-Rescue: Lands on snake upon descending, thereby injuring it, then feverishly works to save the snake's life.

USAF Pilot, A-10: Has Global Positioning Satellite coordinates to snake. Can't find snake. Returns to base for refuel, crew rest and manicure.

USAF Pilot, B-52: Pulls ARCLIGHT mission on snake, kills snake and every other living thing within two miles of target.

USAF Pilot, F-15: Misidentifies snake as enemy Mil-24 Hind helicopter and engages with missiles. Crew chief paints snake kill on aircraft.

USAF Pilot, F-16: Finds snake, drops two CBU-87 cluster bombs, and misses snake target, but gets direct hit on Embassy 100 KM East of snake due to weather (Too Hot also Too Cold, Was Clear but too overcast, Too dry with Rain, Unlimited ceiling with low cloud cover etc.) Claims that purchasing multimillion dollar, high-tech snake-killing device will enable it in the future to kill all snakes and achieve a revolution in military affairs.

USAF Pilot, Fighter, Generic: Mis-identifies the snake as a HIND and engages it with missiles. Crew Chief paints snake on airplane.

USAF Pilot, Transport: Receives call for anti-snake equipment, and delivers two weeks after due date.

Army Pilot, AH-64 Apache: Unable to locate snake, snakes don't show well on infrared. Infrared only operable in desert AO's without power lines or SAM's.

Army Pilot, HH-53 Jolly Green Giant: Finds snake on fourth pass after snake builds bonfire, pops smoke, lays out flares to mark Landing Zone. Rotor wash blows snake into fire.

Joint Security Area (JSA) Korea: Puts on Class B uniform and stares snake down for 40 years. Snake dies of old old age, but son of snake assumes staring contest.

Army Cavalry Troopers: Shoots near snake to prevent it from crossing FLOT because their mission is "Screen" and Not "Destroy." Put in for Silver Star, but is downgraded to ARCOM w/ "V" Device. Cav is successful in not becoming "Decisively Engaged"

NTC O/C: Shoots snake with Godgun, tells it to take off its fangs and wait for Medivac. Other Snakes berated in AAR for not knowing their 9-Line Medivac.

Military Intelligence (Tactical): Puts Rubber Snakes around Snake as "Battle Field Deception." Junior MI Soldier left near to make hissing noises because sound system is deadlined.

Retired SGM working at CIF: Gives snake a statement of charges for not having the same skin it was issued. Snake goes and kills other snake; Tries to turn in other snakes' skin. Spends 8 hours in CIF parking lot washing skin.

ROTC Cadet: Cadet dies of Snake Bite after asking Snake how he did at "Advance Camp"

SFOD-D: Deploys 2 man SR Team to maintain "eyes on" while squadron prepares for deployment. $2.1 M. worth of "Discretionary" funds are used to contract a company to produce a .50 cal subsonic round whose weapon effect closely resembles a mongoose bite. FBI's HRT is deployed to stand around while an Operator shoots the snake with the "Mongoose Round" while wearing an HRT Jacket. SFOD-D Cooks and Clerks expend a total of 1.7 Million Rounds of ammo back at Bragg so that it looks like SFOD-D was never deployed...

Army or Marine Quartermaster: Encounters snake, then loses contact. Can not identify who owns snake by hand receipts. Orders new snake through supply channels. Request is denied by higher authority; issuing the unit a snake will bring the manager to a zero balance; one snake must remain on hand at all times as per their boss' guidance.

Ranger: Plays with snake, then eats it.

USAF Ground Crew:  Runs back to truck after sighting snake, then after a half hour, sends lowest ranking airman out to beat snake to death with a set of wheel chocks.

USMC Band, "The President's Own": Oboe player charms snake into a saxophone case, which is then presented as a gift to former president Bill Clinton.

Army Band, "Pershing's Own": Snake's head crushed with a mallet by bass drum player. Snakeskin turned into cool sash for drum major.

Signal, Enlisted: Tries to communicate with snake . . . fails despite repeated attempts. Complains that the snake did not have the correct fill or did not know how to work equipment a child could operate.

Signal, Officer: Informs the commander that he could easily communicate with the snake using just his voice. Commander insists that he NEEDS to videoconference with the snake, with real-time streaming positional and logistical data on the snake displayed on video screens to either side. Gives Signal Corps $5 Billion to make this happen. SigO abuses the 2 smart people in the corps to make it happen, while everybody else stands around, bitches, and takes credit. In the end, GTE and several sub-contractors make a few billion dollars, the two smart people get out and go to work for them, and the commander gets what he asked for only in fiber-optic based simulations. The snake dies of old age.

Staff Judge Advocate (JAG): Swear they saw something like that on the Discovery Channel . . . spend weeks arguing if it was a snake or not.

Special Forces: Makes contact with snake, ignores all State Department directives and Theater Commander Rules of Engagement by building rapport with snake and winning its heart and mind. Trains it to kill other snakes. Files enormous travel settlement upon return.

Supply: (NOTICE: Your anti-snake equipment is on backorder.)

Transportation Corps: "Snake? What snake? We were sleeping in the truck."

US Congress Representative (D):  After initially voting in favor of anti-snake military action, suddenly realizes that the snake can never be defeated. Goes on TV and describes current operations as 'failed' before they begin and the calls the leading herpetologist in the world 'incompetent'. Pleads with snake not to hurt us. Then introduces legislation to re-deploy all military forces to Okinawa where they can more effectively engage snakes, world-wide. Then heads overseas to attempt to negotiate our surrender to the snake. Takes intern for 'support'.

Embed Main-Stream-Media Reporter: Decides snake is patriotic nationalist agrarian reformer being molested by imperialist U.S. forces, asks snake for directions to nearest bar. If bitten by snake, charges U.S. troops with neglect of duty to protect freedom of the press.

Public Affairs Officer: "We cannot comment on any snake-related activities, and anyway that would be up to the snake's chain of command to provide comments, if any are applicable. Be sure to check out our website on 'How to handle snakes in your AO' for the current command guidelines on snakes."

Naval Aviator, Jets:  Lobbies Congress for new funds to buy "Snake-seeking ordnance," while pressing the point that blue-water ops are the only effective way to display American might to the snake and have a psychological effect on it. Gets funds, then launches strike. Can't drop on Snake due to targeting pod being "bent." Has to jettison multi-million dollar Anti-Snake Bomb into ocean. Comes back to boat and traps on pitching deck in dead of night while bitching about how "Snake gets ten-thousand feet of solid runway to do this $%!T on." Proceeds to blame maintenance chief for bent pod. Chief goes out to jet, pulls tapes, finds that pod was never switched to "ON" position.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Astra 4 - 6 | Demon Slayer 17 - 19 | Cop Craft 4 - 6 | Dr Stone 3 - 6 | Fruits Basket 15 - 19 | Given 3 - 5

Astra 4

How does anyone wash their hands with a spacesuit on?

Those exaggerated faces (reaction to candy plants) weren’t in the manga. Good thing too – they improve on the source.

Hey, man (Ulgar)! “Big girl” is offensive. (I’m probably saying that because I’m not too big myself.)

The *ding ding ding!* was pretty hilarious…LOL.

I remember this was pretty harsh to read for me the first time…because y’know what they say about representation mattering in feminist studies/articles? Yeah, that. (Exactly how I’m represented? That I’ll leave to your imagination…)

Aw, the Gruppie sounds adorable!

I think I’ve said this already, but Kanata uses the word “zetsubou” – despair, not necessarily “hopeless” – to say what he says.

Demon Slayer 17

I was a bit confused as to why Inosuke was majorly angry all the time, but then I realised that he’s not necessarily angry, per se - he is just majorly competitive.

*head on spider legs appears* ARGHHHHHHHHHHH! That reminds me of that head on spider legs from Toy Story…I seem to remember that freaked me out to some degree. I’m actually not afraid of spiders, but show me an image for “trypophobia” (fear of tiny holes) or stick me somewhere high up without secure footing…and I’m gone.

This episode is…great! I’m cursing as I watch, but it’s great! The CGI is adding to the creepiness! Also, I so didn’t expect Zenitsu to have black hair.

I agree with Zenitsu’s master, he is a moron…

…but truth be told, I think I see myself in him. That’s probably why I find him so annoying. Lately, I’ve found there are periods where I resent myself more than anyone else…and that’s the scariest part about living life. But I can’t complain, because I put my name down to help others in the same situation.

Z-Zenitsu! I-I’m sorry I ever doubted you! I’m so sorry…! I promise I’ll stop thinking you’re annoying, because you remind me of meeeeeeeeeee…! *sob, snivel, sob…*

Ukogiiiiiiiiii! Wahhhhhhhhh!

Hmm…you can smell rain. I’ve smelt it before. But thunderclouds…? Not so much.

Demon Slayer 18

“Rookie Mizunoto join the battle!” – The Smash Bros intro is a fun way to introduce people, no?

I thought Shinobu Kocho was Naruto running, but instead she has her jacket on her shoulders…so it only looks like Naruto running.

CG models are back to being awkward again…

“If you can’t slash something with one sword, you just gotta pound it with another sword!” – Basically, the philosophy of the entire shonen genre when dealing with swords.

“I’m gonna die.” – Well, there’s some words I thought I’d never hear from Inosuke…

Oh yeah…I forgot Inosuke’s never met Giyu.

Hmm…I’ve been suspecting Rui is the member of the 12 Kizuki as a demon with lower possibility of being so (but being raised by Ply’s hint during our collab and Tanjiro’s fight), but I’m more certain of the father being the 12 Kizuki based on what the series has shown us already. Hmm…so who is it???

*starts watching Taisho Secret* Wait, where did Giyu come from??? *watches again* Oh, he appears from above…! Interesting…

Hmm…I like salmon onigiri myself. I also like tuna…most flavours, really.

Cop Craft 4

The man (?) with the purplish hair who called Kei over is meant to be a gay stereotype or at least close to one. Aside from his (?) appearance, you can tell by him (?) nding his sentences with “wa”.

Marth’s post for ep. 4 said “And Suddenly, Vampires”, so…I’m thinking about how Cop Craft actually does the horror vibe really well as I watch.

Aw, these cliffhangers suck! I’m starting to thank myself that I ran behind on every show but Demon Slayer.

Cop Craft 5

O-Oh, the CG is getting worse…

Who was the 2nd person dead? The 1st was Chapman…

Astra 5

As I’m laughing at the reactions from the makeover (because I knew this was coming), I’m simultaneously wondering…holding those scissors in the way you’re doing is dangerous, Luca!!!

Oh great…midseason animation slump. This is only the 2nd show to suffer from that this season…and I’ve only caught up on 3 shows so far.

“Mine is bigger!” “No, mine is!” – Ah, anime boys and their ability to make things vaguely Freudian when out of context…*slight sweatdrop*

*slow pan, with a final shot on Aries’s boobs* - Oh, really…? *grumpy*

*…then proceeds to do boob shots of all the girls* Oh, really?!? You wanna go, show?! You were doing so well, up until this episode!!! I didn’t read past volume 2 of the manga, so this beach stuff is all new to me!!! Plus, it sucks because boob shots are everywhere!!!

“…approach him like that…”

People have been pointing this out, but McPa = Camp, Shummoor = Mushroom, Vilavurs = Survival…so Arispade = Paradise.

Ulgar really reminds me of Tooi, even though he came first…

Dr Stone 3

Taiju’s ugly tears make me go “d’aww” now that this scene is animated…it was nice in manga format, but even better when it was moving and with colour.

Now that I think about it, Tsukasa’s “benefit of the new world” talk reminds me of Death Note.

Senku trying to steal Kamakura Buddha bronze looks like Bart Simpson…

Boueibu should’ve taught you that Hakone is home to hot springs.

Dr Stone 4

You don’t fire a smoke signal…

Oh wow, Mecha Senku! Wouldya lookit that! *points at him* He answers questions in the manga, so I didn’t think he’d get adapted!

Are those…CGI trees? Oh great, why does all shonen these days need CGI trees???

Fighting over established interests means a Thucydides trap (a mini version of which seems to be playing out here with Tsukasa)…that’s basically the only thing I remember from my old politics classes.

I just noticed Yuzuriha refers to all the boys with –kun. She wants to stay friends with all of them…I guess even Tsukasa’s on that list, huh?

Hmm…Senku’s eyes are a reddish colour, but otherwise he’s normally representd with blue to Taiju’s red…

I just realised Senku has a red pen and a black pen in one of his breast pockets.

Aww…it’s nice to have rivals who aren’t 100% evil for once. Sure, pure evil rivals are easy to write but hard to justify. Good guys with one morally wrong aspect to them are harder to write, but easier to get behind. (Plus, at least they’re not Sasuke-style angsty.)

Dr Stone 5

So…I went searching…and I was wondering why I wanted to claim Tsukasa as husbando (but man, he’s a bit more stereotypical for a gal to fall in love with – all girls like bad guys, amirite???), but as it turns out, Senku and his buds from our era (Tsukasa included) are 18 and so are ripe for the husbando/waifu picking (not to mention they’re technically over 3700 years old, which more than makes them legal for things like drinking alcohol, as Senku himself pointed out a few eps back).

D’aww…this was in the manga, but now I find Tsukasa inserting himself into Senku’s flashback cute.

Notably, Gen Asagiri appears on the front of the book this student is asking the question from. Who’s Gen Asagiri, you ask, my dear anime-only random nonexistent entity I type these notes for? You’ll find out…soon.

Hmm…Yuzuriha is more observant than we give her credit for. Also, Senku pulled a Gen Asagiri right there…LOL.

LOL…those ‘shrooms seem massively symbolic. They were also in the manga, IIRC.

Why does Yuzuriha wear a neck scarf, anyway?

Hey, they even managed to get the game-like text box right! Awesome! (It reminds me of Little Alchemy, to be honest.)

“Himo” translates to rope…or a cord. Just FYI.

Astra 6

Eyyy…this show is calling me out.

Eyyyyy…Toi vibes from Ulgar!!!

Eyyyyy…wut? I can’t believe Anime Feminist was on the money here??? (Context: The reviewer for Astra said Luca was “one ambiguously-gendered character”.)

Hey…I once read a book with a 50% similarity to this plot. (There was a gay character – not intersex - and all the characters are adopted.)

I think Xenodude said this, but…in space, nobody can hear you scream.

I’m laughing so hard…why are Kanata’s abs the thing that hurt the most? (It’s because he’s got the harness in that region…forget I asked. It’s still funny though.)

“MILD THING” – Yep, Ulgar’s gonna be mild after what happened this episode…

Ohhhhh, I didn’t understand the “hairpiece” thing until it was revealed it was a toupee through context.

Ooh, 50% chance of lying here. Who to trust, who to trust? Charce or Aries? (I trust Aries, by the way.)

Dr Stone 6

The alien explanation etc. was in the manga, but…why do all the attackers look like Senku???

Senku does his best Thinker impression.

Eyyy! Fighter vs. fighter. I love this scene, even if only because Tsukasa (and his muscles) have the upper hand in both the visual angle and the power balance, although [BLEEP <- no spoilers!] has the surprise factor.

I remember learning once blonde hair is recessive…so does that mean most of the community is blonde? (I know the answer to that, but you, my non-existent anime-discussing entity, don’t.)

I’m tempted to hear Senku scream, “This. Is. SCIENCE!!!”

Fruits Basket 15

For some reason, videos run much faster on my phone than my laptop…

Hmm…this is the first time I’m properly listening to the 2nd ED…It’s kinda like how you’d expect an ED to be: quieter than an ED, but still serving up cuteness.

Fruits Basket 16

This episode’s visually very dark…

Middle School!Tohru reminds me of Hitori Bocchi.

Smol Uo looks like Kyo.

Fruits Basket 17

(nothing this time, sorry!)

Fruits Basket 18

Oh! I remember the matching scene in the manga (where Kisa bites Tohru for the first time).

I also remember the manga Hatsuharu is reading is called “Mogeta and the Ant” (Ari).

Now you see why Tohru is Kyoko’s daughter…

“…what her hair and eye colour were.”

Fruits Basket 19

The ep is called “I’m So Sorry!”…I think I know who’s going to star in this episode, alright…

For some reason, when I see Ritsu and Mitchan apologising to each other, I think of me and Astral…(LOL…?)

…Or maybe it reminds me of Zenitsu…?

Eyyyyyyyy, A-ya is A-ya…

This overly-apologetic character of Ritsu…this is why Martin was my favourite character back in the original Ro.Te.O days…*sighs while basking in nostalgia*

Demon Slayer 19

This episode’s been hyped since last week. Let’s get on with it!

Ooh, no pattern on this title card…

Wow (sarcastic), talk about infighting…but amazingly, I found Inosuke’s art shift to be funny for once in my life! (Amazing!...and yes, the exclamation of “Amazing!” is sincere)

Using terror is…well, Machiavellian. Hard power. You get my drift, right?

So basically, Rui breaks down the nuclear family for us.

Wait a flippin’ second…Hinokami (god of fire)? Charcoal selling? Water Breathing??? One of these is not like the others, for sure.

I get the feeling the father’s dance was recorded as video then converted to animation by ufotable staff…that’s what they did for YoI, no?

“The cold won’t bother you, either.” - Well, due to his fire theming, the cold never bothered Tanjiro anyway…*echoes of “Let It Go” suddenly play in the background*

Go for it, Nezuko! Be the Bakugo of the Demon Slayer world!

According to the credits, Tanjiro’s dad’s name is Tanjuro…that’s confusing, to say the least…

(Sorry Astral, the background noise while I was watching meant I did’t watch it with sound on…Also, is it wrong that I think the dad is hot??? Another thing: why do Tanjuro and Tanjiro have matching scars on their temples…?)

One of Tanjiro’s bros looks like Zenitsu??? Wuh???

Ooh, insert song “Kamado Tanjiro’s Song” by Go Shiina ft Nami Nakagawa. I’ll have to listen to it when I can. (Ever since SGRS, I’ve loved Go Shiina’s work…guess I didn’t expect it here, though.) Update: Misattributed the work. Go Shiina does videogame work, Sheens Ringo did SGRS stuf.

Given 3

I never knew that asking someone into a band was like asking someone out…(probably because I’ve never been in a band).

Given’s a frickin’ riot – that’s one reason I stuck with it.

I forgot Mafuyu was underage…!

Cop Craft 6

That car chase was basically Need for Speed…with worse graphics…

“Prayboy”…hmm…

I followed Kei’s advice to Google Jeffrey Dahmer…and I regret it.

The text says “Someone from the Semanian gang of thieves made contact.”

I didn’t make sense of “I hate being McCloud” until I rewound a bit and found that’s a disguise or alter ego of Tony’s.

“Shift the transmission into ‘Reverse’. The car will begin to roll backward sharply…” - The driving instructions are real, at least.

Given 4

Ehhhhh…still shots…

Kaji sure looks tough for a violinist…but a music major? Never thought he’d be one…(I saw some spoilers saying Kaji was a violinist before I watched the episode, hence my lack of surprise in that department.)

Not everyone’s in a band, y’know…

$120…? Nasty…

$70…

Ah, a layby? I don’t actually know what other countries call it, but where I am they’re called laybys, not layaways. (At the charity store I volunteer at, they call ‘em “holds”, though…which makes things even more confusing.)

Watching th first ep at the anime club made me realise that one had a piano version of Marutsuke, while this one is standard Marutsuke.

Given 5

Ooh, I see English-translated lyrics! Nice one, subbers! By the way, the title of the OP “Kizuato” sounds like it should translate to “Traces of Scars/Wounds” in English, but it’s in katakana, so I can’t confirm that…

It seems joining a band is a metaphor for love in this show…(see ep. 3 notes for more on that)

Holy moly! I’m still fairly new to BL/yaoi in general, so two-timing the boyfriend is not a trope ‘ve seen before, let alone dealt with in my head…

Ooh, more translated lyrics! That (ED singer) does sound like Mafuyu, come to think of it…

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Eighteen: Kalypso

The Return of the Paxmobile

(or: Dananananana Dnananana Paxmobile!)

 Everyone was laughing as they ran out of the club. Pax scrambled to pull his shirt back on. Axel surprised her and Euna with a quick front flip as they ran. He laughed like a maniac and Kally realized Merry’s power had affected more than the Heroes of Olympus.

The outside cold snapped Kally more into reality. The gleeful tears that streaked down her cheeks now turned to trails of ice. She’d been in a sound booth tucked into one of the walls with protective Plexiglas. Apparently, it wasn’t uncommon for the merfolk to splash the electronics whenever they disliked a song so everything had been waterproofed. Also effective for, In Case of Percy Jackson. Despite that, Merry had taken over the music halfway through with her jacket, allowing Kally to dance in the isolation of her box without any responsibilities.

“Okay, Merry, I owe you an apology,” Axel admitted. “I didn’t think whatever idea you had was going to work. I mean… the Diet Cokes?”

“The sacrifice to Dad,” Merry giggled. “I ain’t that powerful.” Calex carried her bridal style as they ran down the alleyway. She kept throwing her head back and forth, like she was still dancing to the music, making it as difficult for Calex to carry her as possible.[1]

Merry had collapsed in the club. That party had completely drained her. Kally had seen Merry talk her way out of tons of exercising in gym class and wasn’t used to Merry looking so exhausted. Now, she kept giggling nonsensically, waving her fingers haphazardly to a beat no one could hear, nuzzling up against Calex’s chest, and mumbling the words to Bollywood songs. The grin on her face was absolutely silly and contagious.

“You two—” Merry flicked her hand at Pax and Axel, making Kally duck to avoid being struck. “—are great at the whole war thing, but you’re not very god at peace, are you two?”

Pax laughed and stated, “No, all we’ve ever known is violence,” in the least comforting manner he could.

The image of Pax’s bedroom fluttered to the surface of Kally’s memory—the corner with the chains, clubs, and whips. All the mirth flushed out of her. Instead, she thought about laying beside Pax on his bed, and about what Pax must have done to make Frank flustered the other day. Did other demigods have this problem? Worrying about their traumatized not-boyfriends making out with unwary praetors?

“Merry, that was brilliant, though you’re a mad woman,” Calex said, interrupting Kally’s thoughts on her muddled emotions.

They turned out of the alley onto the main street. Axel slowed them to normal walking pace to draw less attention. The sky was dark now—as dark, Kally figured, as the sky could get in Brooklyn. It gleamed with an ominous orange haze that washed out most of the stars, like Hephaestus was hammering away new New York Part II to impress Athena somewhere nearby.

The streets were busy with the night crowd. Some people made Kally happy that Euna had Backbiter and that someone as intimidating as Axel was leading them.

Now that they’d left the energy of the club and were walking, Kally could feel herself shake in the cold. Merry was the only one with a real jacket in the group. Calex’s beanie and scarf couldn’t have kept him that much warmer.

“Why did you need me to shoot Percy?” Calex asked.

Merry giggled. “Oh, that wasn’t for the plan. I just thought Pax would get a kick out of seeing Percy fall in love with Jason.”

Calex’s jaw dropped. Axel choked on a laugh. Pax burst into one. Even Euna cracked a half-smile, though Kally thought Euna’s grin might have been in reaction to her own musings due to the distant glint in her eyes.

“You had me shoot at the SON OF POSEIDON because this idiotic block might get ‘a kick out of it?!?’” he demanded.

“Yes.”

“M-Merry, you’re am-mazing,” Pax said, wiping happy tears from his eyes. “I g-give you 10 out of 10 on app-preciating your efforts—HUNNIE! BALLER!”

Before Calex could drop Merry on the sidewalk or toss her into Pax to knock both of them over, a shriek erupted from a passing group of girls in high heels and boys in button downs. “Ew! Rats!”

Two furry creatures darted through their prancing feet and, upon reaching Pax’s legs, scampered up his pants. Once they reached his belt, they burrowed under his shirt, incurring several shouts of glee and pain.

“Ow—ow! Ha ha! Ow! Guys—I missed you—aye! Who fixed you up, Hunnie?!” he asked.

Axel smiled. Then his eyes widened. “Wait—Ajax, if they’re here—”

“We can have weasel death battles again!” Pax exclaimed, and hugged a squirming bulge along his waist.

“That… too, but it means—”

“That means the Paxmobile is nearby!” Pax scrambled to withdraw the two weasels from his shirt. As he pulled them out, they wriggled and bit as his arms. “Ow—ow—go forth my—ow—pretties! F-find us our mobile home!”  

 Kally wasn’t sure how much time passed before Sam Datta’s taxi-van stopped. They’d tried walking after Hunnie and Baller for ten minutes before calling Sam, all of them shaking from the cold and exhausted.

Sam was a little skeptical about letting a pair of weasels direct their movement, but the skepticism turned to wonder when Pax handed him a pocket full of denari and drachma.

“Is this… pirate edition Monopoly money?” he asked. He glanced in concern to where Merry, Calex, and Euna had immediately collapsed in the back seats. Merry was out after a delirious greeting, “vanakkam.[2]”

“It’s what Frank and Jason had in their pockets,” Pax said, hopping in the passenger seat. “So, they’re probably made out of gold. Can you imagine if New Rome was using monopoly money though?” Pax shook his head. “We could use inflation to destroy their economy. Mu ha ha.”

Sam shrugged. “That credit card from earlier didn’t bounce yet. Did you guys beat up her stalker and their cavalry reinforcements?” He pointed a thumb at Kally.

Kally frowned. She wished that wasn’t the story they’d gone with. She sat in the middle with Axel.

“We showed them how to party,” Merry sleepily murmured from the back.

Sam shook his head. Despite the late hour, his eyes were still lit up with excitement. “Hey man, I want details. I’m not driving you places for monopoly money and Mr. Stoic’s angry glare. Now, before I hear how you kicked mythological ass, I’m not going to get dive bombed by like, a dragon, this time, am I?”

Kally thought about Festus, the bronze dragon that Leo had.

“No,” Axel said with firm confidence.

At the same time, Pax said, “Possibly.”

Sam’s eyes sparkled more. “Ah, awesome. Well, I hope you can make sense of my biostat notes, because you’re going to help me study between story time.”

 Pax sat in the front to watch the weasels dash across the dashboard and verbalize their movement to Sam. Axel sat up, alert, and vigilantly scanned the horizon.

Kally wanted to stay awake, to make sure they didn’t derail too far from Camp Half-Blood to find the Paxmobile, though it would be nice to have their own transportation. Honestly though, Kally didn’t know if they were going away from Camp Half-Blood, considering her lack of knowledge about the geography of New York.

Apparently, something about the weasels’ dance across the dashboard was mesmerizing enough for Kally to nod off. When she felt the car roll to a stop, she could smell the cloy mix of spicy chocolate and sweat in her nostrils. Her face and right arm felt toasty despite the cold of the van. Kally glanced up, looking past a torn and bloody Camp Jupiter shirt to where Axel was staring out the window.

Her face was pressed against Axel’s chest and his arm was loosely around her shoulder. When he noticed her wake up, he gave her a soft smile, ruffled her hair, and removed his arm.

Kally’s face felt even toastier.

For a disorienting moment, Kally had a weird flashback to her brother, John. Before he’d became a total jerk, when Kally was really little, he used to help carry her inside the house whenever she fell asleep on long car rides. Sometimes, she’d pretend to have fallen asleep, just so John would complain about how heavy she was while tossing her over one shoulder.

The memory faded when Axel startled and shouted, “STOP!”

Sleepy grumbles erupted from the back.

They squeaked to a sharp halt. From the ease of the break, they couldn’t have been going that fast. From what Kally could see in the scattered street lamps, they were in a suburban neighborhood, with concrete sidewalk forming a horseshoe in a cul-de-sac. They’d braked at the entrance of the cul-de-sac.

The houses were nice, middle-income family homes, bigger than Kally’s house, but she was used to her friends’ houses being bigger. Each had about an acre of land, with minor landscaping and a few scattered trees.

There wasn’t anything that should have made Axel shout for them to stop. Except maybe Hunnie and Baller. They were going nuts and doing flips. One scratched at the front windshield while the other sprinted in circles around the dashboard.

“Unicorn or something?” Sam asked, ducking his head back and forth like he might see something.

Axel pointed to the last house in the cul-de-sac.

Amidst the overgrown grass of that last house, there was indeed a unicorn grazing in the grass. Kally was relieved to see the sputtering rainbow sparkles erupt out of the red and black stallion ahead. Vinyl was okay and happily munching on the lawn.

A white, dented pharmaceutical van was parked in the house’s narrow parking lot.

Kally hoped that was their Paxmobile, and not Lapis and Hiro’s. But she could see the faintest hint of paint on the side, from where the Pax brothers had scribbled Pax Extraction Team. A weird nostalgia hit her as she thought about playing card games with Pax’s holographic deck in the back.

A golden donkey poked its head out from the other side of the Paxmobile: Lucius the Golden Ass.

“That’s just a deer du—oh.” Sam’s eyes went wide. “Oh, man, are most deer secretly unicorns? Have I hit a unicorn with my car before without even knowing it?”

He edged the taxi forward at a slow roll.

Axel shot forward and grabbed Sam’s shoulder. “I said stop.”

The taxi halted again. “Are unicorns deadly?” Sam asked, wide-eyed.

“Very,” Pax said absently. “I heard they eat human livers.” He sat rigidly in the passenger seat, leaning forward slightly. He bounced slightly back and forth in a motion recognized as his I want to hop but I’m sitting.

“Krios and Luke only told you that so you’d stop asking for one,” Axel said. His normal sigh didn’t follow. Instead, his gaze was steady. The Mist fluttered for a moment, and Kally could see his pupils had widened, leaving a thin rim of his iris, like a cat ready to pounce.

“There’s a rune barrier around that house,” he said. Kally didn’t see anything, but she assumed this was a true sight thing.

“Like..?” Pax asked.

“A child of Hecate rune barrier,” Axel clarified.

Pax went silent. Kally thought he might break his seat if he bounced anymore. She could imagine the internal, chibi version of Pax clawing at his seatbelt, squealing, “Release me!”

Something small and ghostly darted from under the Paxmobile, gliding bouncily towards their taxi, like the most menacing of specter bunnies.  

One of the weasels on the dashboard made a loud squeak and phased through the windshield. Kally blinked, watching as the remaining one bit and attacked the glass in attempt to follow after.

“Wow! Your ferret can—”

The weasel left in the car shrieked at Sam before continuing to attack the glass.

“Weasel,” Pax corrected absently. He looked stunned as he watched their weasel scamper up and intercept the approaching white figure.

“Baller does that sometimes,” Axel said. His posture was rigid. He absently grabbed at his belt, where a weapon should have been. This was the tensest Kally had seen him since he interacted with Aphrodite. “Kally, wake up the others. Everybody needs to get out.”

As soon as the doors opened, Hunnie darted off to join Baller in attacking that floating spectral thing. Once Pax remembered to remove his seatbelt, he bolted after them. Merry wouldn’t budge. Calex, sleepily, had to carry her out. None of them wanted to wake up Euna. They took Joey’s old piece of advice about throwing things at her, mostly crumbled up pieces of Sam’s notebook. Fortunately, she didn’t assault any of them on waking. She just glared.

Sam said he’d wait at the bottom of the cul-de-sac until he heard everything was okay. He hefted up his biostats book and cracked it open for some studying. “Unicorns and golden donkeys make the perfect backdrop for studying. Besides, knowing my luck, you’ll make the house explode or something.” He made it sound like that really would be lucky. Kally was starting to wonder what this guy did on weekends, other than pick up random kids with stolen credit cards and take them to strange houses by weasel direction.

As they walked up the small incline of the sidewalk, towards the house, Axel seemed deaf to Calex’s questions about where they were and what they were doing and why they weren’t at Camp Half-Blood yet. Though his questions quieted to glee at seeing Vinyl in the yard.

Ahead of them, Pax reached the three battling creatures and dropped onto the pavement, crying, “Nietz! Nietz!” Kally thought neats was a weird thing to call when being overrun by—

“Oh gods,” Calex groaned, “Are there really three of those damned things?”

When she got close enough, Kally recognize the small specter to be another weasel, this one albino. The three weasels decided Pax’s body was a battle ground, bounding over his limbs, hiding, and ambushing one another.

Tears streamed down Pax’s cheeks as he scrambled to snatch up the albino weasel. “Axel—Axel, it’s Nietz! Do—do you think—”

           They were at the house’s property line when Axel knelt down. He touched a part of the concrete, and a green rune appeared on the ground, glowing dimly. “It’s an alarm ward,” he said absently. He clenched his jaw.

           The three weasels bound away from Pax to scamper around Axel’s legs. He reached down to pet the white weasel, who dropped onto its back and curled to bite and scratch his fingers. “Hey Nietzsche,” he greeted with a soft smile. He stood up, inhaled shakily, and said, “Whoever lives in that house will already know we’re here. Let’s check to see if everything is in the van. I want to be armed. Just in case.”  

 Thanks for reading :D Are you ready to meet the new Seventh Traitor of Olympus?

[1] My niece does this when you carry her and it is terrifying since you never know when she’ll drive to dive out of your arms.

[2] Greeting in Tamil.

[i-am-agent-washingtub]

The Exile gets a kitten and only barely tries to pretend she’s using it to bother Atton for no reason. No possible reason at all.

(I wrote this months ago after finishing the game but only just found it gathering dust in a folder and it’ll be a weight lifted to shove it off to you guys.)

“Did you find out why the general stayed behind?” Bao-Dur asked when Atton finally made his way up the Ebon Hawk’s boarding ramp, defeated.

“She force shoved me away!” he said in disbelief. “Like, actually shoved me! With the force!”

Bao-dur arched his brow.

“She just– I can’t believe her! She told me to ‘Scram, Rand!’ and flicked her hand at me and–” Atton stomped his foot and huffed.

“That sounds a little short tempered even for her,” Bao-Dur said.

“Well, I mean, yeah, she told me a couple times before that that she was fine and I should leave and she did ask kind of nicely, but to use the force on me? It’s a shady city out there! I wasn’t going to just leave her alone in an alley on Nar Shadda! I don’t remember doing anything to piss her off more than usual… Did I? Did you see me do something to bother her?”

“Not that I can think of. Maybe she’s just finally had enough of you.”

“No, that’s– No. No, that can’t be it,” Atton said, trying to convince himself more than Bao-Dur.

“Well, if she’s not back in half an hour I’ll go check on her,” Bao-Dur assured as he turned his attention back to the workbench.

Atton found Halyn leaning against the communications room doorway with her back to him a few minutes after Bao-Dur had finally gone to find her.

“–and I don’t care if it’s Atton’s jacket or just a sock or even Kreia’s musty old… anything, just pile it all in the box, ok?”

T3-M4 whistled affirmatively from the room. Halyn stepped roughly back into Atton to let T3-M4 pass down the hallway to the center of the ship and he caught her by the shoulders. Atton looked down expectantly at Halyn. His heart fluttered at the applewood scent and warmth coming off Halyn as they listened to T3-M4 whirr away from them. He tried to swallow despite the anxious dryness in his mouth and tried in vain to think of a witty and sarcastic way to greet the Exile for finally returning to them.

“Is there a reason you snuck up so close behind me, Atton?” Halyn asked, emoting at the wall across from them.

The moment had passed. Atton quickly pushed her upright. She turned to face him, leaning against the doorway again with her arms crossed under a bulge in her jacket.

“If you think that was me sneaking up on you then oh, boy, do I have a really neat trick to show you next time we head out somewhere.”

“Is it you finally disappearing completely?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it; you made it real clear you wanted me gone when you went all Jedi to shoo me off. I get it. It’s just this isn’t exactly the planet you want to be sitting alone in an alley on even with all the major bounty hunters killed. They spring up like weeds, you know. Save the Force powers for one of them next time.”

“One, not a Jedi, we’ve been over this. Two, I asked you to leave. A bunch of times. Then I told you to leave and you got stubborn so, hey, buddy, maybe next time I ask for some time to stare at a box, let me stare at the kriffing box in peace. And, three, I’m actually kind of sorry about that.”

“Right, well, you can make it up to me later. Or start a little right now and tell me why you were ordering that little tin bucket of yours to throw my jacket in a box with Kreia’s musty things.”

“Oh, right, I need some… soft… things for a thing and there’s usually a bunch of dirty clothes lying around on the floor in places they shouldn’t be so I’m declaring all those things forfeit and T3-M4 is going to collect them for me.”

“Not that I like to pry, but that was incredibly vague.”

Halyn shrugged slightly.

“It’s kind of a surprise, I guess. Have you seen Bao-Dur? I was going to ask him for some of his work rags but he’s not around which is why your laundry is now in danger.”

“Oh, he went out to look for you just before this. Probably worrying his horns off that you’re not still sitting in that alley.”

Halyn scrunched her face in an expression Atton couldn’t quite place. He figured there was some amount of confusion mixed with appreciation.

“Right, then I’ll just–” he noted the bulge above her arms shift slightly as she stepped fully into the hallway while speaking, “–hope he took his communicator with him and tell him to come back.” She scooted past him and said something once she reached the edge of his hearing that sounded curiously like a note to herself to ask Bao-Dur to pick up kitten food on his way back. He took a moment to wonder just how much he trusted his own hearing before he caught a glimpse of T3-M4 rolling past a far opening with his jacket in its clutches.

“Hey! Give that back or I swear I’ll sell you for parts!”

“What does a trash bucket like your little droid buddy even need to be that fast for?” Atton huffed as he stepped into the port dormitory with an armful of his own dirty clothes. T3-M4 tittered triumphantly past him with one of his gloves waving above him. Halyn peered out from behind the furthest bunk to watch Atton drop his bundle of clothes in a sudden grab for his glove and begin a new battle with T3-M4 to recover all his dropped items before the droid could scoop them up. He shouted various profanities at the droid while T3-M4 responded in kind with scandalized beeps and whirs. Atton caught a glimpse of Halyn watching them with amusement a moment before T3-M4 resorted to using a low powered shock.

“Stop! I am very proud of your dedication to helping me, T3, but I think Atton has given up enough of a fight to mean he really wants those clothes. Let him keep them,” Halyn ordered and ducked back behind the bunk. “Except for one more sock!”

Atton let out a wordless shout as he tried to protect his many loose socks but T3-M4 snatched one too quickly for him to prevent and flung it over the far bunk to where Halyn sat. It chittered contentedly and slowly whirred out of sight.

“I’m going to get that back,” Atton warned as he shoved his clothes under the second to last bunk. He heard a curious squeak from Halyn as he piled his jacket and gloves on his mattress. “What was that?”

He slinked cautiously over Halyn’s bunk and propped himself up on his elbows inches beside her head. A kitten sat shakily in her lap, swatting at her fluttery fingertips.

“Atton, meet Atton!” she said, brandishing the thin, uneasy kitten in his face.

“Is this what was in the alley box?”

“Wow. What an incredibly warm welcome. Be mindful or I’ll teach him to use your pillow to relieve himself,” she warned and held the kitten close against her chest. Atton eyed a low walled box to her right lined with various cloth items, including a sock or two of his.

“It’s cute that you wanted an Atton to call your very own but if you wanted a cuddle buddy you could have just asked me.”

“You would need to bathe for a solid week before I voluntarily let you touch me, Rand.”

“Hey, now, how many baths do you think that thing has had in its entire life?”

“Counting the one I’m about to give him? More than you.”

Atton frowned at the kitten capturing Halyn’s attention (and fingers in its small, nibbling mouth). The frankly tiniest kitten Atton had ever seen shivered every time it lifted its skeletal paw out to bat a finger and screeched weakly after every few moments. It had a muddy tortoiseshell coat with numerous small mats of muddy fur offset by bald spots and a few patches of thin, wiry fur. One of its ears was mangled at the tip and its whiskers bent erratically. Drab, watery gold-brown eyes darted back and forth piteously from the center of its broad, mucous encrusted face. It was hideous.

“Are you really naming it Atton?”

“Yeah! He kind of looks like you, don’t you think?”

Atton looked at the contentment on Halyn’s face and felt a twinge of hurt.

“Look, he’s a little scruffy, but I think I can fix him up nice and handsome.” She held the kitten up proudly in front of her face. “Here, he’s been smelling your stinky socks so he should be comfortable with you holding him while I go figure out how I’m going to wash him. And check on Bao-Dur’s progress with finding kitten food.”

Halyn gently placed the kitten on Atton’s back and left before he had a chance to complain. The kitten stood where she left it, shivering its little claws through Atton’s shirt and meowing sadly.

“Yeah, you get used to not having her around all the time,” Atton said, struggling to grab the kitten off his back. It began moving hesitantly down his back and Atton felt its claws slip painfully every time he moved. He decided to let the kitten figure it out.

“So that’s your bed, huh? Tiny box of stolen laundry right next to her bed here. My bed’s next to hers, too, see; it’s right there.” He vaguely pointed at the next bunk over and the kitten fell completely off his back. “Not as close as yours, but at least I’m far enough away she can’t just smack me when I keep her up at night talking about stupid things.” He rolled up against the headboard and pulled the kitten into his lap.

“So, if she thinks you look like me, that means I look like a mess (which isn’t surprising) but she also thinks you can clean up nice and I’m pretty sure I can clean up nicer than a street cat so–” he trailed off wagging his finger in front of the kitten’s nose. Atton the Kitten showed no interest in his game. “I can’t tell what’s my lower point; talking to Bao-Dur or a kitten about Halyn and me. The possibility of Halyn and me?” The kitten nibbled tentatively on his finger. “You need to do the name of Atton proud, little guy. Maybe if she likes you enough she’ll start to associate your good Atton qualities with me and then– nope. Nope, I’m done talking to you, cat. Done,” he promised, taking his finger back from the kitten to point at it sternly. He waggled his finger slightly when the kitten softly laid its claws on his extended finger. With a dramatic stretch, the kitten slipped its claws off and scratched lightly at the folds of Atton’s shirt. It curled up gently against him, examining the room with jerky movements and heavy eyelids.  

“Or maybe you’re just competition,” Atton mused. He frowned. “No, that’s stupid even for me.”

Atton the Kitten nestled his face finally in Atton the Human’s shirt. Atton listened to the soft whistling of the kitten’s breathing for a moment, contemplating its small size.

“Atton the Cat’n!” Halyn called, her heavy footsteps thumping toward the dormitory. “Time for your bath.”

“Good luck, mini me,” Atton told the kitten with a gentle pat on its head as Halyn came into view with her sleeves scrunched up and hair pulled back. “Be gentle with him,” he asked Halyn, holding up the whining kitten with one hand.

“If you say so.” Halyn picked the kitten delicately out of Atton’s hand and held it in front of her face, watching it whine. She turned around to leave. “Don’t worry, Atton is in good hands,” she said, hoisting the kitten above her head as she left.

Atton the Kitten let out one last plaintive meow and Atton followed up with an amused sigh.

“This is going to get confusing,” he said to the ceiling as he pulled his legs up and settled into Halyn’s bunk to await her return.